Maybe they didn't have to discuss things like this. Maybe they had spent so many years together that they knew how to cooperate so smooth things for other people without even thinking about it. Like actors who have performed the same roles together so often that they can improvise without the slightest confusion.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Long-term partners can coordinate effortlessly without discussion, like seasoned actors improvising together.
- In plain terms
- After years together, people can work smoothly without needing to talk.
- What can you take from it?
- Familiarity breeds effortless cooperation and understanding.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When did you last coordinate without words?
- Is silence in a relationship always positive?
Another view
Not all long-term relationships achieve this level of seamless coordination.
More from Orson Scott Card
Who is more cursed, the one who dies, unknowing until the very moment of his death or the one who watched his destruction as it approached, step by step, for d…
Permalink to quote #155 I just don't what to face her again. Because I love her and I fear her. Because I'm not sure whether I should help her or try to destroy her.
Permalink to quote #157 I no longer tell anyone half of what I know, because if I told the whole truth there would be fear, hatred, brutality, murder, war.
Permalink to quote #154
Related quotes
I think that it is a fallacy to suppose that helpful cooperation in the future will be assured by the attempted compulsion of an inflexible rule. Rather will s…
Charles Evans HughesCharles Evans Hughes quote #9 'You look like a girl with a secret,' Matt said. 'I think it must be the smile.' She moved closer to him, which was very close, and lowered her voice. 'Can you…
Larry NivenLarry Niven quote #13 The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own.
Willa CatherWilla Cather quote #53