Parenting & Family Quote by Astrid Lindgren

Refusing the cultural script of "madly in love" is Astrid Lindgren's quiet rebellion, delivered with the calm authority of someone who has watched romance get mythologized into a personality. The first clause is almost disarming in its plainness: she doesn’t posture about a tragic lack, doesn’t dress it up as mystery. Then comes the needle: "although it is not something I would miss". That aside punctures a whole industry of longing. Lindgren treats the grand romance narrative the way a practical Swede might treat an overdecorated cake: admired from a distance, unnecessary to eat.

The subtext isn’t anti-love; it’s anti-hierarchy. She’s demoting romantic obsession from its cultural pedestal and elevating another form of devotion that is usually framed as duty rather than desire. "Instead" does heavy lifting here, shifting the conversation from what she didn’t have to what she chose to value. By stacking "children and my grandchildren and my great grandchildren", she builds a lineage of affection that expands outward through time. It’s love measured in continuity, not in intensity.

Context matters: Lindgren wrote for children, but she never patronized them. Her stories often champion fierce independence, skepticism toward adult pretensions, and love expressed as protection, loyalty, and moral clarity rather than melodrama. This quote feels like the personal corollary to that worldview: she’s not auditioning for romance; she’s testifying for care. In an era that increasingly sold fulfillment as a couple’s storyline, Lindgren offers an alternative plotline - one where love is less fever and more force.