--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I always knew one thing, that life is…" description: "\"I always knew one thing, that life is made bearable and possible and liveable by the relations of one human being to another, the individual love and g..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg" --- # I always knew one thing, that life is made bearable and… ![“I always knew one thing, that life is made bearable and possible and liveable by the relations of one human being to another, the individual love and gentleness between persons, or in any case, the unbreakable bond that grows and fastens lives together in all sorts of mysterious ways.” quote by Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg) > “I always knew one thing, that life is made bearable and possible and liveable by the relations of one human being to another, the individual love and gentleness between persons, or in any case, the unbreakable bond that grows and fastens lives together in all sorts of mysterious ways.” [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote emphasizes that human relationships—love, gentleness, and deep bonds—make life bearable and meaningful. **In simple terms:** Relationships make life bearable. Key Takeaway Cultivate deep, loving connections. Themes love human connection compassion meaning resilience Mood warm hopeful Type emotional inspirational When to use this quote - friendship - family life - community building Key Concepts psychology sociology philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What relationships sustain you? - How can you strengthen bonds? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gentleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gentleness/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-together/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Mysterious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mysterious/) [Mysterious ways](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mysterious-ways/) [Unbreakable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unbreakable/) [Unbreakable Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unbreakable-bond/) ## Related quotes > [In every physical action, unless it is purely mechanical, there is concealed some inner action, some feelings. 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Women, forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-perkins-gilman/it-is-only-in-social-relations-that-we-are-human-to-be-human-women/) [Charlotte Perkins Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-perkins-gilman/) > [“Society is the total network of relations between human beings. The components of society are thus not human beings but relations between them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-toynbee/society-is-the-total-network-of-relations-between-human-beings-the/) [Arnold Toynbee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-toynbee/) > [If one has a purpose, life is bearable enough, do you not think so?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-raybourn/if-one-has-a-purpose-life-is-bearable-enough-do-you-not-think-so/) [Deanna Raybourn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deanna-raybourn/) > [“ Thanks for being my best friend and making my life bearable. Oh, and sorry I fell in love with you for a while there. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-bardugo/thanks-for-being-my-best-friend-and-making-my-life-bearable-oh-and/) [Leigh Bardugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-bardugo/) > [“Oh, hon, it's the little courtesies that make life bearable, I find, wouldn't you agree?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-ashling/oh-hon-it-s-the-little-courtesies-that-make-life-bearable-i-find/) [Andrew Ashling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-ashling/) > [Life is bearable even when it's unbearable: that is what's so terrible, that is the unbearable thing about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoff-dyer/life-is-bearable-even-when-it-s-unbearable-that-is-what-s-so-terrible/) [Geoff Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoff-dyer/) > [“Friends are people one pretends to like in order to make life bearable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-abercrombie/friends-are-people-one-pretends-to-like-in-order-to-make-life-bearable/) [Joe Abercrombie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-abercrombie/) > [“Belonging is one of the things that makes life bearable, and it can be tough to look at a binary world and choose against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-solomon/belonging-is-one-of-the-things-that-makes-life-bearable-and-it-can-be/) [Andrew Solomon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-solomon/) > [“Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/faith-is-what-makes-life-bearable-with-all-its-tragedies-and/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) ## More by Katherine Anne Porter > [There seems to be a kind of order in the universe…in the movement of the stars and the turning of the Earth and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/there-seems-to-be-a-kind-of-order-in-the-universe-in-the-movement-of/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [The human heart is not yet so corroded that it can read off the extinction of these two men without a shock to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/the-human-heart-is-not-yet-so-corroded-that-it-can-read-off-the/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [I always write a story in one sitting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-always-write-a-story-in-one-sitting/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [What we need is endless courage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/what-we-need-is-endless-courage/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/human-life-itself-may-be-almost-pure-chaos-but-the-work-of-the-artist/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [But the great leveler, Death: not even the gods can defend a man, not even one they love, that day when fate takes hold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/but-the-great-leveler-death-not-even-the-gods-can-defend-a-man-not/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [I started out with nothing in the world but a kind of passion, a driving desire. I don't know where it came from, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-started-out-with-nothing-in-the-world-but-a-kind-of-passion-a/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [I am in Paris. Yes ma'am , I made it back. I came up from Berlin, stopped here ten days, fought a losing battle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-am-in-paris-yes-ma-am-i-made-it-back-i-came-up-from-berlin-stopped/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [Your mind outwears all sorts of things you may set your heart upon; you can enjoy it when all other things are taken away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/your-mind-outwears-all-sorts-of-things-you-may-set-your-heart-upon/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [we know that the Furies do not come uninvited.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/we-know-that-the-furies-do-not-come-uninvited/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [The arts do live continuously, and they live literally by faith; their names and their shapes and their uses and their basic meanings survive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/the-arts-do-live-continuously-and-they-live-literally-by-faith-their/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [The very thing about people that makes the human race interesting is also the thing that makes it so hard to get anything done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/the-very-thing-about-people-that-makes-the-human-race-interesting-is/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [A cultivated style would be like a mask. Everybody knows it's a mask, and sooner or later you must show yourself -- or at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/a-cultivated-style-would-be-like-a-mask-everybody-knows-it-s-a-mask/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [The past is never where you think you left it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/the-past-is-never-where-you-think-you-left-it/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [In the arts, you simply cannot secure your bread and your freedom of action too. You cannot be a hostile critic of society and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/in-the-arts-you-simply-cannot-secure-your-bread-and-your-freedom-of/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) [Explore all 156 Katherine Anne Porter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) ## More Bearable quotes > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates. Not only does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [How will it ever be bearable, Priestess?” His voice was rough. He sounded completely broken. “You’ll see her again. She’s with Nyx now. She’ll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/how-will-it-ever-be-bearable-priestess-his-voice-was-rough-he-sounded/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/intense-unexpected-suffering-passes-more-quickly-than-suffering-that/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“shared pain is more bearable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-allende/shared-pain-is-more-bearable/) [Isabel Allende](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-allende/) > [For me, friendship has always been the most accessible of relationships - certainly far more so than romantic love. Friendship, I learned, provided a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sullivan/for-me-friendship-has-always-been-the-most-accessible-of/) [Andrew Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sullivan/) > [Divorce is my generation's coming of age ceremony - a ritual scarring that makes anything that happens afterward seem bearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/divorce-is-my-generation-s-coming-of-age-ceremony-a-ritual-scarring/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [You can’t change the tale so that you turned left one day instead of right, or didn’t make the mistake that might have saved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-caldwell/you-can-t-change-the-tale-so-that-you-turned-left-one-day-instead-of/) [Gail Caldwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-caldwell/) > [The prophet who fails to present a bearable alternative and yet preaches doom is part of the trap that he postulates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-prophet-who-fails-to-present-a-bearable-alternative-and-yet-2/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [The doctors may be mapping out the war games, but it is the nurses who make the conflict bearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/the-doctors-may-be-mapping-out-the-war-games-but-it-is-the-nurses-who/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [Prayer can come in only when fasting has done its work. 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Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [When pain is unbearable it destroys us; when it does not it is bearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/when-pain-is-unbearable-it-destroys-us-when-it-does-not-it-is-bearable/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [If Jesus gives us a task or assigns us to a difficult season, every ounce of our experience is meant for our instruction and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/if-jesus-gives-us-a-task-or-assigns-us-to-a-difficult-season-every/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/the-arts-are-not-a-way-to-make-a-living-they-are-a-very-human-way-of/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) Browse all 174 Bearable quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I always knew one thing, that life is made bearable and possible and liveable by the relations of one human being to another, the individual love and gentleness between persons, or in any case, the unbreakable bond that grows and fastens lives together in all sorts of mysterious ways.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Katherine Anne Porter" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-made-bearable-and-possible-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bearable" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-made-bearable-and-possible-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe6/katherine-anne-porter-2653_bearable_i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-mad_3101006.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I always knew one thing, that life is made bearable and possible and liveable by the relations of one human…” — Katherine Anne Porter", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Katherine Anne Porter", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I always knew one thing, that...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-made-bearable-and-possible-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/i-always-knew-one-thing-that-life-is-made-bearable-and-possible-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```