"A fish may love a bird, but where would they live?"
About this Quote
That’s the subtext that makes it sting. The quote doesn’t mock attachment so much as it interrogates what we demand of it. We often treat love as proof of compatibility, a moral credential, an argument that the universe owes us a workable ending. Barrymore flips the burden: the feeling may be real, yet reality still asks a blunt question about daily life. Where do you sleep? Who gives up oxygen? Who drowns, who starves, who learns to fly? The sweet simplicity smuggles in a darker calculus about compromise, self-erasure, and the quiet resentments that accumulate when one person is always “visiting” the other’s world.
Coming from an actress whose public narrative has been shaped by messy coming-of-age, tabloid relationships, and a long arc toward steadier adulthood, it reads less like cynicism than hard-earned clarity. It’s also a tidy critique of the rom-com script that equates longing with destiny. Barrymore isn’t denying love’s power; she’s insisting it has to negotiate with physics. The question isn’t “Do we care?” It’s “Can we build a life that doesn’t kill one of us?”
Quote Details
| Topic | Love |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Barrymore, Drew. (2026, January 14). A fish may love a bird, but where would they live? FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-fish-may-love-a-bird-but-where-would-they-live-51141/
Chicago Style
Barrymore, Drew. "A fish may love a bird, but where would they live?" FixQuotes. January 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-fish-may-love-a-bird-but-where-would-they-live-51141/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A fish may love a bird, but where would they live?" FixQuotes, 14 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-fish-may-love-a-bird-but-where-would-they-live-51141/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.










