Quote

Attractions are things we all should be good at saying no to, because our Department of Attraction is arguably the least reliable and productive office in our entire brain.

Carolyn Hax

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Carolyn Hax
Age: 58
Born: 1966
Born: December 5
Columnist
Journalist
Writer
Bridgeport
Connecticut
Carolyn Hanley Hax
Saying
Attractions
Least
Arguably
Reliable
Brain
Attraction
Good
Productive
Things
Department
Entire
Office

More quotes by Carolyn Hax

Image
Separating is not divorcing. Please keep that in mind. It is, instead, the second step in seeing if there's a better way to manage your family.
Carolyn Hax
Image
A lot of support gets withheld out of fear of awkwardness and misspeaking.
Carolyn Hax
Image
It's okay to forgive yourself immediately and for good.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Your parents' views are, by current standards, out there. Getting in their faces about it would be needlessly disrespectful, but there's no reason for you to tiptoe through their delusional little terrarium as if you can't bend even one blade of grass.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Being highly invested and preoccupied by an emotionally consuming mission tends to steal resources from other aspects of your emotional life.
Carolyn Hax
Image
I do crosswords when I have time to kill somewhere, and am 100 percent successful on filling in the spots I get stuck on - after I close up, do something else, and then go back to it.
Carolyn Hax
Image
When in doubt, respond to what you witness, not what you hear secondhand.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Apparently you have ample proof from experience that you're not going to stop world evil by debating your in-laws into submission, so it's okay to choose not to try.
Carolyn Hax
Image
The sudden death of a partner while expecting a child is so universally understood as awful that I don't think anyone with any other weight to carry is going to get to same kind of sympathy - except perhaps people who lose a child.
Carolyn Hax
Image
One helpful thing to keep in mind as a retort-stopper is that you won't win, you won't change anyone's mind, you won't change any votes, you won't make the atmosphere in the room any better, YOU won't feel any better.
Carolyn Hax
Image
We all make deals with ourselves when it comes to the difficult people in our lives.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Moving is hard. Staying is easy. Logistically speaking, at least. And this is true whether you're doing or undoing something.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Sometimes the pain outweighs the good things.
Carolyn Hax
Image
If you take the time to listen to an upset child's story with empathy, and guide the child toward figuring out the root of the problem, then the result is often that the child not only calms down, but also in the future is less likely to get so upset.
Carolyn Hax
Image
People who make babies surrender their right to behave like them.
Carolyn Hax
Image
You don't want to be with someone who is already not getting from you what he needs emotionally.
Carolyn Hax
Image
For me, the greatest source of frustration was trying to work with a willful child when there was something else I wanted - say, to get the child to go to bed so I could have my own time. Just the promise of the time, and feeling that promise slip away, was enough to introduce a whole other element of stress into the encounter.
Carolyn Hax
Image
If you're not sure what you want, then hold back from making plans or responding to invitations until you have a chance to think about it.
Carolyn Hax
Image
The topic of sexual education makes me nuts, because kids are certainly not now and have rarely ever been clueless about what adults do and delude themselves about keeping from their kids. Especially now that so many of them are carrying the entire internet around in their pockets.
Carolyn Hax
Image
When you fail to see something, that doesn't mean I'm hiding it.
Carolyn Hax