--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Maybe in order to understand sex…" description: "\"Maybe in order to understand sex fully/one has to risk being destroyed by it.\" — Sharon Olds" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg" --- # Maybe in order to understand sex fully/one has to risk… ![“Maybe in order to understand sex fully/one has to risk being destroyed by it.” quote by Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg) > “Maybe in order to understand sex fully/one has to risk being destroyed by it.” [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding sexuality may require confronting its risks and potential for emotional upheaval. **In simple terms:** Sex can be both enlightening and dangerous. Key Takeaway Approach intimacy with awareness. Themes sex risk self‑discovery Mood thoughtful cautionary Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - relationships - personal exploration - emotional challenges Key Concepts vulnerability intimacy Questions to Reflect On - Are you willing to face possible pain? - How do you balance curiosity and safety? A Different Perspective Sexual experiences can be harmful if not consensual. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Risk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/risk/) [Sex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sex/) [Sexuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sexuality/) ## Related quotes > [“It is imposible to understand sex as we see it nowadays - a mere response to a few physical stimuli. In reality, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/it-is-imposible-to-understand-sex-as-we-see-it-nowadays-a-mere/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [I regard sex as the central problem of life. And now that the problem of religion has practically been settled, and that the problem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/i-regard-sex-as-the-central-problem-of-life-and-now-that-the-problem/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) > [Sex lies at the root of life, and we can never learn to reverence life until we know how to understand sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/sex-lies-at-the-root-of-life-and-we-can-never-learn-to-reverence-life/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) > [If she a virgin & she don't wanna give it up to you or any other guy then you gotta understand that sex is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timmy/if-she-a-virgin-she-don-t-wanna-give-it-up-to-you-or-any-other-guy/) Timmy > [Women, understand that sex does not always equate to love, it just equates to a false sense of emotional closeness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enhance-dreams/women-understand-that-sex-does-not-always-equate-to-love-it-just/) Enhance Dreams > [Wars--and what is war except crime on a mass scale?--destroy rather than produce. The vandal that destroys a window causes not only the owner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-young/wars-and-what-is-war-except-crime-on-a-mass-scale-destroy-rather-than/) [Adam Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-young/) > [We all carry it within us: supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted, and cannot be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/we-all-carry-it-within-us-supreme-strength-the-fullness-of-wisdom/) [Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/) > [Wasn't Saddam destroyed? Wasn't Gaddafi liquidated? Didn't Milosevic go to the Hague? All true. But Stalin survived. Kim Jong-un isn't doing too badly, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/wasn-t-saddam-destroyed-wasn-t-gaddafi-liquidated-didn-t-milosevic-go/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [“My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhonen-vasquez/my-problem-is-that-the-human-race-seems-to-want-to-be-destroyed/) [Jhonen Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhonen-vasquez/) > [To all conservative women out there: If you are so sure the embryo needed for stem cell research are precious human life that can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/to-all-conservative-women-out-there-if-you-are-so-sure-the-embryo/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamid-karzai/they-re-criminals-they-brutalized-afghanistan-they-killed-our-people/) [Hamid Karzai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamid-karzai/) > [You know, I often thought that the gangster and the artist are the same in the eyes of the masses. They're admired and hero-worshipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/you-know-i-often-thought-that-the-gangster-and-the-artist-are-the/) [Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/) > [ Evil cannot be "treated" -- nor should it be. Evil has to \[be\] confronted and destroyed and it matters not why the evil is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/evil-cannot-be-treated-nor-should-it-be-evil-has-to-be-confronted-and/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/poetry-fettered-fetters-the-human-race-nations-are-destroyed-or/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/to-refer-even-in-passing-to-unpublished-or-struggling-authors-and/) [Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/) ## More by Sharon Olds > [Poems come from ordinary experiences and objects, I think. Out of memory - a dress I lent my daughter on her way back to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/poems-come-from-ordinary-experiences-and-objects-i-think-out-of/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [There are some fine books and essays about that. Lewis Hyde has written about alcoholism and poets and the role that society gives its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/there-are-some-fine-books-and-essays-about-that-lewis-hyde-has/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [I'm not asking a poem to carry a lot of rocks in its pockets. Just being an ordinary observer and liver and feeler and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/i-m-not-asking-a-poem-to-carry-a-lot-of-rocks-in-its-pockets-just/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“How do they do it, the ones who make love without love? How do they come to the come to the come to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/how-do-they-do-it-the-ones-who-make-love-without-love-how-do-they/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [She'd crack A joke sharp as a tin lid Hot from the teeth of the can-opener, And cackle her crack-corn laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/she-d-crack-a-joke-sharp-as-a-tin-lid-hot-from-the-teeth-of-the-can/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [If I wrote in a sonnet form, I would be distorting. Or if I had some great new idea for line breaks and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/if-i-wrote-in-a-sonnet-form-i-would-be-distorting-or-if-i-had-some/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [Many poets write books. They'll tell you: Well, I've got my next book, but there are two poems I need to write, one about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/many-poets-write-books-they-ll-tell-you-well-i-ve-got-my-next-book/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“as if languagelessness was a step up, in evolution, from the chatter of consciousness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/as-if-languagelessness-was-a-step-up-in-evolution-from-the-chatter-of/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [Maybe we can use a metaphor for it, out of dance. I think for many years I was aware of the need, in dance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/maybe-we-can-use-a-metaphor-for-it-out-of-dance-i-think-for-many/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [Who wants to put together something that will bear some relationship to the vision or memory or experience or story or idea or dream…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/who-wants-to-put-together-something-that-will-bear-some-relationship/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“I put my arms around a trunk and squeezed it, then I lay down on my father's grave.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/i-put-my-arms-around-a-trunk-and-squeezed-it-then-i-lay-down-on-my/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“...the liquor like fire in his hand”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/the-liquor-like-fire-in-his-hand/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [I'm probably so out of it at my age that I don't know what people think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/i-m-probably-so-out-of-it-at-my-age-that-i-don-t-know-what-people/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“Some people think I should be over my ex by now — maybe I thought I might have been over him more by now.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/some-people-think-i-should-be-over-my-ex-by-now-maybe-i-thought-i/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“I've said that he and I had been crazy for each other. But maybe my ex and I were not crazy for each other.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/i-ve-said-that-he-and-i-had-been-crazy-for-each-other-but-maybe-my-ex/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) [Explore all 78 Sharon Olds quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) ## More Destroyed quotes > [To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/to-refer-even-in-passing-to-unpublished-or-struggling-authors-and/) [Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/) > [Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/poetry-fettered-fetters-the-human-race-nations-are-destroyed-or/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [ Evil cannot be "treated" -- nor should it be. Evil has to \[be\] confronted and destroyed and it matters not why the evil is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/evil-cannot-be-treated-nor-should-it-be-evil-has-to-be-confronted-and/) [Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/) > [You know, I often thought that the gangster and the artist are the same in the eyes of the masses. They're admired and hero-worshipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/you-know-i-often-thought-that-the-gangster-and-the-artist-are-the/) [Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/) > [They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamid-karzai/they-re-criminals-they-brutalized-afghanistan-they-killed-our-people/) [Hamid Karzai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamid-karzai/) > [To all conservative women out there: If you are so sure the embryo needed for stem cell research are precious human life that can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/to-all-conservative-women-out-there-if-you-are-so-sure-the-embryo/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [“My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhonen-vasquez/my-problem-is-that-the-human-race-seems-to-want-to-be-destroyed/) [Jhonen Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhonen-vasquez/) > [Wasn't Saddam destroyed? Wasn't Gaddafi liquidated? Didn't Milosevic go to the Hague? All true. But Stalin survived. Kim Jong-un isn't doing too badly, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/wasn-t-saddam-destroyed-wasn-t-gaddafi-liquidated-didn-t-milosevic-go/) [Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/) > [We all carry it within us: supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted, and cannot be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/we-all-carry-it-within-us-supreme-strength-the-fullness-of-wisdom/) [Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/) > [Wars--and what is war except crime on a mass scale?--destroy rather than produce. The vandal that destroys a window causes not only the owner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-young/wars-and-what-is-war-except-crime-on-a-mass-scale-destroy-rather-than/) [Adam Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-young/) > ['Johnny' was a coping mechanism who could take those things which could have ordinarily destroyed me, by tweaking my past and throwing it back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-vegas/johnny-was-a-coping-mechanism-who-could-take-those-things-which-could/) [Johnny Vegas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-vegas/) > [Like Samson, I am ready to pull down the white man's temple, knowing full well that I will be destroyed by the falling rubble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/like-samson-i-am-ready-to-pull-down-the-white-man-s-temple-knowing/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Men will never rest till they've spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-adams/men-will-never-rest-till-they-ve-spoiled-the-earth-and-destroyed-the/) [Richard Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-adams/) > [The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-triangle-of-truisms-of-father-mother-and-child-cannot-be/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/if-in-the-opinion-of-the-people-the-distribution-or-modification-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) Browse all 1,587 Destroyed quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Maybe in order to understand sex fully/one has to risk being destroyed by it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sharon Olds" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-one-has-to-risk-being/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Destroyed" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-one-has-to-risk-being/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb1/sharon-olds-8682_destroyed_maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-o_555553.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Maybe in order to understand sex fully/one has to risk being destroyed by it.” — Sharon Olds", "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": "Sharon Olds", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Maybe in order to understand sex...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-one-has-to-risk-being/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/maybe-in-order-to-understand-sex-fully-one-has-to-risk-being/#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 } } ] } ```