The rooms of his apartment were full with the dog home again, convalescing. He was satisfied to know, even when she was out of sight, that somewhere in the apartment she was sleeping or eating or sitting watchfully. It was family, he guessed, more or less. Did most people want a house of living things at night, to know that in the dark around them other warm bodies slept?

Such a house could even be the whole world.

About Lydia Millet

Lydia Millet (born December 5, 1968) is an American novelist. Her 2020 novel A Children's Bible was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times Book Review. She has been a finalist for...

More quotations tagged with “comfort”

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.

—Alan Alda

wonder creativity comfort intuition

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.

—Helen Keller

nature comfort grass

When I look at my friend's marriages, with their routine day-to-dayness, they actually seem far more romantic than any dating relationship might be. Dating seems romantic, but for the most part it's an extended audition. Marriage seems boring, but for the most part it's a state of comfort and acceptance. Dating is about grand romantic gestures that mean little over the long-term. Marriage is about small acts of kindness that bond you over a lifetime. It's quietly romantic. He makes her tea. She goes to the doctor appointment with him. They listen to each other's daily trivia. They put up with each other's quirks. They're there for each other.

—Lori Gottlieb in Marry Him

kindness acceptance relationship comfort dating

Nobody who ever accomplished anything big or new or worth raising a celebratory fist in the air did it from their comfort zone. They risked ridicule and failure and sometimes even death.

—Jen Sincero in You Are a Badass

risk failure comfort ridicule

I turn in his arms, thinking how quickly it's become my favorite place in the world. Familiar, foreign, comforting, and thrilling all at once.

—Nicola Yoon in Everything

comfort hugs arms

History

7 Dec 2013 Added
26 Oct 2026 Wording changed

Previous wording

The rooms of his apartment were full with the dog home again, convalescing. He was satisfied to know, even when she was out of sight, that somewhere in the apartment she was sleeping or eating or sitting watchfully. It was family, he guessed, more or less. Did most people want a house of living things at night, to know that in the dark around them other warm bodies slept?

Such a house could even be the whole world.