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963eee0 Be again, be again. (Pause.) All that old misery. (Pause.) Once wasn't enough for you. krapp life misery play Samuel Beckett
2023a48 Art like life is an open secret. life Lawrence Durrell
6f987f5 No wonder so many adults long to return to university, to all those deadlines--ahhh, that structure! Scaffolding to which we may cling! Even if it arbitrary, without it, we're lost, wholly incapable of separating the Romantic from the Victorian in our sad, bewildering lives... life order structure Marisha Pessl
a06d47c Do not grieve so much for a husband lost that it wastes away your life. grieve life loss love Euripides
60f29a3 Charitably... I think... sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And, in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change. death life Neil Gaiman
5080a03 He remembered the old Chinese proverb, sometimes ascribed to Confucius: If you sit by the river for long enough, the body of your enemy will float by. life Salman Rushdie
f8460d5 "Haley and I would talk for hours about which member of 'N Sync we'd want to marry. After long deliberation, the answer was always J. C. Chasez. Joey Fatone's last name was going to be "Fat One" no matter how great he was, and even though they didn't know at their age that Lance Bass was gay outright, they sensed he'd make a better good friend and confidante. As for Justin Timberlake, well, JT was the coolest and hottest, but too flashy, so we couldn't trust him to be faithful. J. C. Chasez was the smart compromise." humor ideal-man jc-chasez jt life n-sync Mindy Kaling
a347cbf [P]eople need to use their intelligence to evaluate what they find to be true and untrue in the Bible. This is how we need to live life generally. Everything we hear and see we need to evaluate--whether the inspiring writings of the Bible or the inspiring writings of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, or George Eliot, of Ghandi, Desmond Tutu, or the Dalai Lama. intelligence life literature religion Bart D. Ehrman
6bb3323 In life, you have to take lots of decisions and if you don't take decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all your time choosing between things you could do. inspirational life Mark Haddon
0046a34 And now let us love and take that which is given us, and be happy; for in the grave there is no love and no warmth, nor any touching of the lips. Nothing perchance, or perchance but bitter memories of what might have been. death life love lovers mortality H. Rider Haggard
c03b282 Imagine you had a friend who was there for you all the time and you were there for them, but they stopped being there for you as much as they used to which you can understand a little because people have things to do, but then they're around less and less no matter how much you try to reach out to them. Then suddenly one day - nothing - they're gone. Just like that. Then you write to them, and you're ignored, and then you write to them again and you're ignored and finally you write to them for a third time and they barely even want to make the appointment, they're so busy with their job, their friends and their car. How would you feel? lesson life quote time Cecelia Ahern
21e682d And to those who believe that adventures are i say try routine: it kills you far more quickly. inspirational life routine Paulo Coelho
86fe157 Two lost things that had survived the seas and arrived on a coastline. What did they do? They implanted themselves in the sand and grew into trees and lined the beaches. Sometimes a lot can come of being all washed up. You can really grow. hope inspirational lesson life love Cecelia Ahern
0ced91e "It isn't the bloody weather!" I've shocked them into silence. I should stop. Apologize for my outburst. Make amends. Blame the climate. But I cannot. Something in me has given way and it cannot be put back again. "Did you know that he had returned to the laudanum? That he couldn't give it up? That our good intentions were not nearly so powerful as his will to die?... No, Thomas. Is this the life you want for me? To be like you? To wear blinders and talk of nothing that matters and drink weak tea with other people who would do anything to hide the truth, especially from themselves?" life Libba Bray
d9664c6 Now what is history? It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That's why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, that's why they write symphonies.. history life sence Jon Krakauer
e45a42b That somehow dreams are a blurred line between here and there, like a meeting room in a prison. You're both in the same room, yet on different sides and really, in different worlds. inspirational life Cecelia Ahern
311e5fc "If you keep it," Daneca says, "he'll have his claws in you." Everyone has their claws in me. Everyone." -- dark life Holly Black
15005e7 "But if we are talking in terms of making progress in life, we must understand that "good enough" is very different from "best." life motivational Paulo Coelho
5385907 Her life was a series of zigzags. At nineteen, she was anxious. character life patricia-highsmith teenager the-price-of-salt young Patricia Highsmith
8d79889 Human beings are the only ones in nature who are aware that they will die. For that reason and only for that reason, I have a profound respect for the human race, and I believe that its future is going to be much better than its present. Even knowing that their days are numbered and that everything will end when they least expect it, people make of their lives a battle that is worthy of a being with eternal life. What people regard as vanity-leaving great works, having children, acting in such a way as to prevent one's name from being forgotten- I regard as the highest expression of human dignity. achievement death life work Paulo Coelho
9987ca5 A lie, as you probably know, has a taste all its own. Blocky and bitter and never quite right, like when you pop a piece of fancy chocolate into your mouth expecting toffee filling and you get lemon zest instead. lie life taste truth Jodi Picoult
662ef37 History as well as life itself is complicated -- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency. history life simplicity Jared Diamond
3eab5c1 The best way to waste your life is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch. Look for the details. Report. Don't participate. Let Big Brother do the singing and dancing for you. Be a reporter. Be a good witness. A grateful member of the audience. life living participate truth Chuck Palahniuk
949a6d9 Life is warped. I'm just in sync. honesty life survival Margaret Atwood
20b828b Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time. life P.D. James
737fdfa It is impossible to foretell the future with any degree of accuracy, that it is impossible to rehearse life. A fault in the scenery, a face in the audience, an interruption of the audience on to the stage, and all our carefully planned gesture mean nothing, or mean too much. life planning E.M. Forster
de59ecb "Heaven, such as it is, is right here on earth. Behold: my revelation: I stand at the door in the morning, and lo, there is a newspaper, in sight like unto an emerald. And holy, holy, holy is the coffee, which was, and is, and is to come. And hark, I hear the voice of an angel round about the radio saying, "Since my baby left me I found a new place to dwell." And lo, after this I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of shoes. And after these things I will hasten unto a taxicab and to a theater, where a ticket will be given unto me, and lo, it will be a matinee, and a film that doeth great wonders. And when it is finished, the heavens will open, and out will cometh a rain fragrant as myrrh, and yea, I have an umbrella." heaven life miracles Sarah Vowell
dd54b77 We knew our days were numbered. We had fouled up our lives and we were getting ready for a shake-up. gazebo life Raymond Carver
cfed5e5 There is only a certain amount of kindness in the world...just as there is a certain amount of light. We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things...Choose a place where you won't do very much harm and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine. life light E.M. Forster
f4a5236 "I'm talking about a little truth-in-packaging here. To be perfectly frank, you don't quite like yourself. And if you walk around looking like someone other than who you are, you could end up getting the wrong job, the wrong friends, who knows what-all. You could end up with somebody else's life." I shrugged again, and smiled. "This is my life," I said. "It doesn't seem like the wrong one." hair haircut identity life self Michael Cunningham
6a99c02 Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible. life Elie Wiesel
7b48bc5 Ursula craved solitude but she hated loneliness hate life loneliness lonely solitude Kate Atkinson
d06a26c God help us for we knew the worst too young. life youth Rudyard Kipling
4091d29 You are the leader here. Obviiusly your skills are far superior to mine. I don't think I could fit into your life. I'm a loner, not the first lady. lady life loner Christine Feehan
1d223b8 You deserve a life. dftba fault hazel john-green life stars John Green
10b6387 I like the strings. I always have. Because that's how it feels. But the strings make pain seem more fatal than it is, I think. We're not as frail as the strings would make us believe. And I like the grass, too. The grass got me to you, helped me to imagine you as an actual person. But we're not different sprouts from the same plant. I can't be you. You can't be me. You can imagine another well - but never quite perfectly, you know? life margo quentin strings John Green
aebebaf Such is life. We grow up. Planets like Tiny get new moons. Moons like me get new planets. growing-up inspirational life metaphor John Green
c1eb8f6 What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or, failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn't us? What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are not they both saying: Hello? We spy on whales and on interstellar radio objects; we starve ourselves and pray till we're blue. life listening nature Annie Dillard
c5c7332 But there were too many points at which the other self could invade the self he wanted to preserve, and there were too many forms of invasion: certain words, sounds, lights, actions his hands or feet performed, and if he did nothing at all, heard and saw nothing, the shouting of some triumphant inner voice that shocked him and cowed him. inner-voice inner-voicery invasion life lights mind patricia-highsmith self shocked shouting sounds strangers strangers-on-a-train train voice words Patricia Highsmith
2e56034 We mark some days as fair, some as foul, because we do not see that the character of every day as identical life Charles Frazier
d99debc Beauty's not only skin deep. Just because a person is beautiful doesn't mean there's no soul beneath. Doesn't mean that person hasn't suffered like everyone else, doesn't mean they don't hope to still be a good human being in an awful world. (Gabriel) judgement life perspective true Rachel Cohn
4c5a056 "If God gave it to me," we say "it's mine. I can do what I want with it." No. The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of - if we want to find our true selves, if we want real Life, if our hearts are set on glory." faith glory god hearts letting-go life thankfulness Elisabeth Elliot
dd1e148 Never delay kissing a pretty girl or opening a bottle of whiskey. life quotes whiskey woman Ernest Hemingway
46a7c84 "You're a dreamer, boy," he said. "Your mind is on the moon, and from the looks of things, it's never going to be anywhere else. You have no ambitions, you don't give a damn about money, and you're too much of a philosopher to have any feeling for art. What am I going to do with you? You need someone to look after you, to make sure you have food in your belly and a bit of cash in your pocket. Once I'm gone, you'll be right back where you started." dreamer life moon Paul Auster
1ebf7a0 You've thrown down the gauntlet. You've brought my wrath down upon your house. Now, to prove that I exist I must kill you. As the child outlives the father, so must the character bury the author. If you are, in fact, my continuing author, then killing you will end my existence as well. Small loss. Such a life, as your puppet, is not worth living. But... If I destroy you and your dreck script, and I still exist... then my existence will be glorious, for I will become my own master. damned death dying heaven hell kill life living master murder puppet wrath Chuck Palahniuk
fa84863 Mr. Montag, you are looking at a coward. I saw the way things were going a long time back. I said nothing. I am one of the innocents who could have spoken up and out when no one would listen to the 'guilty,' but I did not speak and thus became guilty myself. inspirational life Ray Bradbury
db1b338 Of course, they're not clowning around to make me laugh. They're doing their best to live very lives, and they just happen to fall down sometimes. I think that's cool. inspirational life murakami Haruki Murakami
62d5b87 "Ask for no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping it's life away. To hell with that," he said, "shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass." -- life living-life-to-the-fullest trust Ray Bradbury
c46d174 "In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. fear freedom life lonliness love pain poetry Maya Angelou
6afc3db The colors of living things begin to fade with the last breath, and the soft, springy skin and supple muscle rot within weeks. But the bones sometimes remain, faithful echoes of the shape, to bear some last faint witness to the glory of what was. life memory Diana Gabaldon
47cd22b So there you have it: two things & I can't bring them together & they are wrenching me apart. These two feelings, this knowledge of a world so awful, this sense of a life so extraordinary--how am I to resolve them? life Richard Flanagan
9d1b0f7 Just because life is hard, and always ends in a bad way, doesn't mean that all stories have to life James Patterson
5c1ae24 I didn't give a fuck whether I found anything or not. The thing is, never to be too anxious. Everything comes in due time. life quotes Henry Millery
fc0af4d Now I wonder if it means that the future is a place, or like a place, that I could go to; that is go to in some way other than just getting older. future life place time Audrey Niffenegger
4284b57 ... that once you throw your life to the winds, you will discover things you had never known before, things that cannot be learned under any other circumstances. life Paul Auster
0a0f351 We are tiny flames, Helikaon, and we flicker alone in the great dark for no more than a heartbeat. When we strive for wealth, glory and fame, it is meaningless. The nations we fight for will one day cease to be. Even the mountains we gaze upon will crumble to dust. To truly live we must yearn for that which does not die. life love war wealth David Gemmell
4bb12a6 One's days were too brief to take the burden of another's errors on one's shoulders. Each man lived his own life and paid his own price for living it. life Oscar Wilde
d5212b8 That's the problem with winning right from the start, thought Ender. you lose friends. friendship life winning Orson Scott Card
789baed Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. What if it doesn't fire? It has to fire. Could you crush that beloved skull with a rock? horror life suicide Cormac McCarthy
f7b16ce The choices we're working with here are a block universe, where past, present and future all coexist simultaneously and everything has already happened; chaos, where anything can happen and nothing can be predicted because we can't know all the variables; and a Christian universe in which God made everything and it's all here for a purpose but we have free will anyway. choices free-will future god life past present universe Audrey Niffenegger
7c62b67 Senseless, you say? Death is senseless yet makes way for the living. Life, too, is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want, and which way the wind blows. life Ellen Raskin
8528d06 Everything, decided Francie after that first lecture, was vibrant with life and there was no death in chemistry. She was puzzled as to why learned people didn't adopt chemistry as a religion. life religion Betty Smith
6c07286 At the core of her senseless actions, she vaguely perceived that she yearned for something. A something that would provide her with a sure sense of fulfillment. But she could not fathom what that something might be. life purpose spiritual yearning Shūsaku Endō
b0c3903 Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. life Henry James
fab7f15 One must be serious about something, if one wants to have any amusement in life. enjoy enjoyment hobbies hobby life seriousness Oscar Wilde John Cooper
b79fa8a He is not apprehended by reason, but by life. life reason Leo Tolstoy
9b73acc It can't be that life is so senseless and horrible. But if it really has been so horrible and senseless, why must I die and die in agony? There is something wrong! dying life questions-in-life Leo Tolstoy
b98549c Death followed by eternity the worst of both worlds. It is a terrible thought. death eternity experience life Tom Stoppard
9e1c5ab The more mental effort he made the clearer he saw that it was undoubtedly so: that he had really forgotten and overlooked one little circumstance in life - that Death would come and end everything, so that it was useless to begin anything, and that there was no help for it, Yes it was terrible but true death leo-tolstoy life Leo Tolstoy
c2a1320 The people around you are mirrors, I think. You see yourself reflected in their eyes. If the mirror is true, and smooth, you see your true self. That's how you learn who you are. feminism how-to-be-a-woman life person self Caitlin Moran
7ddd85b "But one creature said at last, "I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom." life trust Richard Bach
7e563ba If perchance a friend should betray you; if he forms a subtle plot to get hold of what is yours; if people should try to spread evil reports about you, would you tamely submit to all this without flying into a rage? deceit evil friend friends-betrayal harm life people rage society wrongdoing Molière
02f20b2 Why don't people ask us about our hope? The answer is probably that we look as if we hope in the same things they do. Our lives don't look like they are on the Calvary road, stripped down for sacrificial love, serving others with the sweet assurance that we don't need to be rewarded in this life. hope life sacrifice service John Piper
bd3af4c Perhaps it's because I appreciate all I have so much that I don't worry about what I haven't got. happiness inspirational life Leo Tolstoy
7b1abee No one you have been and no place you have gone ever leaves you. The new parts of you simply jump in the car and go along for the rest of the ride. The success of your journey and your destination all depend on who's driving. inspirational life springsteen Bruce Springsteen
6d760bd Who are we without our memories? la-vie life memories truth Marta Acosta
d42c62a Feminist thinking teaches us all, especially, how to love justice and freedom in ways that foster and affirm life. feminist freedom justice life Bell Hooks
e06dd03 Still, being fragile creatures, humans always try to hide from themselves the certainty that they will die. They do not see that it is death itself that motivates them to do the best things in their lives. They are afraid to step into the dark, afraid of the unknown, and their only way of conquering that fear is to ignore the fact that their days are numbered. They do not see that with an awareness of death, they would be able to be even more daring, to go much further in their daily conquests, because then they would have nothing to lose- for death itself is inevitable. conquest death fear life Paulo Coelho
5d39d0f Life always bursts the boundaries of formulas. Defeat may prove to have been the only path to resurrection, despite its ugliness. I take it for granted that to create a tree I condemn a seed to rot. If the first act of resistance comes too late it is doomed to defeat. But it is, nevertheless, the awakening of resistance. Life may grow from it as from a seed. life resistance seeds trees Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6f00c47 What is our life: (Pause.) it's looking forward or it's looking back. And that's our life. That's it. Where is the moment? life moment past present David Mamet
a60348f "I should like to ask you: -- Does your childhood seem far off? Do the days when you sat at your mother's knee, seem days of very long ago?" Responding to his softened manner, Mr. Lorry answered: "Twenty years back, yes; at this time of my life, no. For, as I draw closer and closer to the end, I travel in the circle, nearer and nearer to the beginning. It seems to be one of the kind smoothings and preparings of the way. My heart is touched now, by many remembrances that had long fallen asleep, of my pretty young mother (and I so old!), and by many associations of the days when what we call the World was not so real with me, and my faults were not confirmed with me." life Charles Dickens
572c6e3 There you have it: our lives in a nutshell. Emphasis on nut. funny life lol nuts James Patterson
c5d9ae9 All sanity depends on this: that it should be a delight to feel the roughness of a carpet under smooth soles, a delight to feel heat strike the skin, a delight to stand upright, knowing the bones are moving easily under the flesh. feeling gratitude life sanity Doris Lessing
435d67a Death paused. YOU HAVE PERHAPS HEARD THE PHRASE, he said, THAT HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE? 'Yes. Yes, of course.' Death nodded. IN TIME, he said, YOU WILL LEARN THAT IT IS WRONG. discworld life life-philosophy people small-gods Terry Pratchett
5544fb4 "With mind distracted, never thinking, "Death is coming," To slave away on the pointless business of mundane life, And then to come out empty--it is a tragic error. (116) trans by Robert Thurman" error life mindfulness Huston Smith
9334eff Man wants three things; life, knowledge, and love. life love wants Fulton J. Sheen
fe40d05 This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there's someone who is watching out for them. It's what I missed so much when my mother died--what I call your 'spiritual security'--knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. life love security truth Mitch Albom
c86d402 We read the pagan sacred books with profit and delight. With myth and fable we are ever charmed, and find a pleasure in the endless repetition of the beautiful, poetic, and absurd. We find, in all these records of the past, philosophies and dreams, and efforts stained with tears, of great and tender souls who tried to pierce the mystery of life and death, to answer the eternal questions of the Whence and Whither, and vainly sought to make, with bits of shattered glass, a mirror that would, in very truth, reflect the face and form of Nature's perfect self. These myths were born of hopes, and fears, and tears, and smiles, and they were touched and colored by all there is of joy and grief between the rosy dawn of birth, and death's sad night. They clothed even the stars with passion, and gave to gods the faults and frailties of the sons of men. In them, the winds and waves were music, and all the lakes, and streams, and springs,--the mountains, woods and perfumed dells were haunted by a thousand fairy forms. They thrilled the veins of Spring with tremulous desire; made tawny Summer's billowed breast the throne and home of love; filled Autumns arms with sun-kissed grapes, and gathered sheaves; and pictured Winter as a weak old king who felt, like Lear upon his withered face, Cordelia's tears. These myths, though false, are beautiful, and have for many ages and in countless ways, enriched the heart and kindled thought. But if the world were taught that all these things are true and all inspired of God, and that eternal punishment will be the lot of him who dares deny or doubt, the sweetest myth of all the Fable World would lose its beauty, and become a scorned and hateful thing to every brave and thoughtful man. autumn beautiful birth brave death delight deny doubt dreams effort eternity fable fairy fear gods grief hateful haunted hope joy king-lear lake life love mountains music mystery nature pagan passion past perfection philosophies pleasure poetic punishment questions religion-myths sacred-books scorn shakespeare smiles spring summer tears tender thought throne true truth william-shakespeare winter woods Robert G. Ingersoll
e2eb424 The world would hate His followers, not because of evil in their lives, but precisely because of the absence of evil or rather their goodness. Goodness does not cause hatred, but it gives occasion for hatred to manifest itself. The holier and purer a life, the more it would attract malignity and hate. Mediocrity alone survives. faith life mediocrity p315 truth wisdom Fulton J. Sheen
74cbe17 Always guarding one's real, precious self in a cocoon of tranquility within a thousand masks. Life itself had become a secret affair. life mask secret Mary Balogh
d0c3a83 Just before the went back into warp and its crew sat down at the table, the ship expelled the limp corpse of Zallin. Where it had found a live man in a suit, it left a dead youth in shorts and a tattered shirt, tumbling and freezing while a thin shell of air molecules expanded around the body, like an image of departing life. death life shell space vacuum zallin Iain M. Banks
beda79d Life's funny. You have to find a way to keep going, to keep laughing, even after you realize that none of your dreams will come true. When you realize that, there's still so much of a life to get through. life Claire Messud
1ac29f7 And who ever said the world was fair, little lady? Maybe death is fair, but certainly not life. We must accept the unfairness as proof of the sublime flux of existence, the capricious music of the universe- and go on about our tasks existence fairness life universe Tom Robbins
ef25056 "They keep telling you, when you're older, you'll have experience--and that's supposed to be so great. What would you say about that, sir? Is it really any use, would you say?" "What kind of experience?" "Well--places you've been to, people you've met. Situations you've been through already, so you know how to handle them when they come up again. All that stuff that's supposed to make you wise, in your later years." "Let me tell you something, Kenny. For other people, I can't speak--but, personally, I haven't gotten wise on anything. Certainly, I've been through this and that; and when it happens again, I say to myself, Here it is again. But that doesn't seem to help me. In my opinion, I, personally, have gotten steadily sillier and sillier and sillier--and that's a fact." "No kidding, sir? You can't mean that! You mean, sillier than when you were young?" "Much, much sillier." "I'll be darned. Then experience is no use at all? You're saying it might just as well not have happened?" "No. I'm not saying that. I only mean, you can't use it. But if you don't try to--if you just realize it's there and you've got it--then it can be kind of marvelous." life life-advice Christopher Isherwood
81415e8 And that was all the part of it - the way you were obliged to live. You stifled a groan, you lied about your love, you deceived your legal wife, and all in the name of honour. That was the damned paradox of it - in order to behave well, you have to behave badly. life paradox Julian Barnes
d2a3b09 That was his mother. When she wasn't crying over the breakfast cereal, she was laughing about killing herself. irony life mothers people Nick Hornby
777c95e Life's not a video game, Felix- there aren't a certain number of points that send you to the next level. There isn't actually any next level. The bad news is that everybody dies at the end. Game Over. life nw video-games zadie-smith Zadie Smith
1b1e195 After listening to a lot of these stories, I began to think that American loneliness is a completely different creature from anything we experience in this country, and it made me glad I was born Japanese. The type of loneliness where you need to keep struggling to accept a situation is fundamentally different from the sort you know you'll get through if you just hang in there. japan life loneliness struggle Ryū Murakami
a3198ff Let's fly away and live forever crazy forever genius good life relativity Orson Scott Card
500c08b This is everyone's fight. Because it's everyone's future. fight future life Jennifer L. Armentrout
4f06f99 Life has very little even ground. even-ground fair fairness life J.D. Robb
6518291 I am not sad, he would repeat to himself over and over, I am not sad. As if he might one day convince himself. Or fool himself. Or convince others--the only thing worse than being sad is for others to know that you are sad. I am not sad. I am not sad. Because his life had unlimited potential for happiness, insofar as it was an empty white room. He would fall asleep with his heart at the foot of his bed, like some domesticated animal that was no part of him at all. And each morning he would wake with it again in the cupboard of his rib cage, having become a little heavier, a little weaker, but still pumping. And by the midafternoon he was again overcome with the desire to be somewhere else, someone else, someone else somewhere else. I am not sad. life love sadness Jonathan Safran Foer
84978ca Hassan and I looked at each other. Cracked up. The Hindi kid would soon learn what the British learned earlier in the century, and what the Russians would eventually learn by the late 1980's: that Afghans are an independent people. Afghans cherish customs but abhor rules. And so it was with kite fighting. The rules were simple: No rules. Fly your kite. Cut the opponents. Good luck. customs life Khaled Hosseini
3990cd6 In ancient times people weren't just male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female, or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave it much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everybody in half, right down the middle. So after that the world was divided just into male and female, the upshot being that people spend their time running around trying to locate their missing other half. life love religion theory Haruki Murakami
0e58f98 I thought of how proud he was when he took the marks- cutting the skin of his throat in a long slash and then packing it with ashes until keloid scars rose up. He called it his second smile. family honor life loyalty mafia mob mobster pride protection Holly Black
89c1a4d It's not hard to read about death abstractly. I do find it tough when a character I love dies, of course. You can truly miss characters. Not like you miss people, but you can still miss them. death life missing-someone reading Will Schwalbe
577bb48 Babies don't come with instruction booklets. You'd learn the same way we all do -- you'd read up on dinosaurs, you'd Google backhoes and skidders. And you don't need a penis to go buy a baseball glove. humor life parenting Jodi Picoult
c05ff58 Try to roll with the punches. Keep your chin up. Don't take any wooden nickels. Vote Democrat in every election. Ride your bike in the park. Dream about my perfect, golden body. Take your vitamins. Drink eight glasses of water a day. Pull for the Mets. Watch a lot of movies. Don't work too hard at your job. Take a trip to Paris with me. Come to the hospital when Rachel has her baby and hold my grandchild in your arms. Brush your teeth after every meal. Don't cross the street on a red light. Defend the little guy. Stick up for yourself. Remember how beautiful you are. Remember how much I love you. Drink one Scotch on the rocks every day. Breathe deeply. Keep your eyes open. Stay away from fatty foods. Sleep the sleep of the just. Remember how much I love you. inspirational life love peace Paul Auster
9c225e3 "... "That at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." - The Alchemist, Paulo Cohelo -" fate life life-lessons lives the-alchemist Paulo Coelho
d86e9ef Seize what's been handed you. Make smart decisions. Make decisions because life is a temporary situation. life James Patterson
d8feebb The way you write ronin is Lang Ren with the character for wave and the character for person, which is pretty much how I feel, like a little wave person, floating around on the stormy sea of life. life stormy Ruth Ozeki
a24efcd Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost. life Henry David Thoreau
3ccfc3b A shadow is hard to seize by the throat and dash to the ground. life phantom shadow struggle Victor Hugo
5f900b8 You can be the hunter, or you can be the hunted. hunter life retribution revenge Lisa Gardner
910c2c3 One's ribs shouldn't be prison bars. death-and-dying life David Mitchell
4b7e04e Things change all the time - abruptly, unpredictably, and often for no good reason. But knowing that didn't do you that much good, apparently. life Tom Perrotta
74aa30f The true life is not reducible to words spoken or written, not by anyone, ever. life speech words writing Don DeLillo
bb6a608 Never stop being a kid, Richard. Never stop feeling and seeing and being excited with great things like air and engines and sounds of sunlight within you. Wear your little mask if you must to protect you from the world but if you let that kid disappear you are grown up and you are dead. fascination life Richard Bach
c2f7d3d The clothes you're wearing, the room, the house, the city that you're in. Everything in it started out in the human imagination. Your lives, your personalities, your whole world. All invented. All made up. All the wars, the romances. The masterpieces and the machines. And there's nothing here but a funny little twist of amino acids, playing a marvelous game of pretend. cities clothes houses life machines masterpieces personalities pretend romances rooms wars Alan Moore
7847ecc ...it's so dreadful to have nothing to love -- life is so empty -- and there's nothing worse than emptiness... life love L.M. Montgomery
f7712fe Well, I'd like my life to be like a Bruce Springsteen song. life music Nick Hornby
b5a37ae Everything has a spirit and it's all connected. If you think about that, if you live your life by it, then you're less likely to cause any hurt. It's like how our bodies go back into the ground when we die, so that connects us to the earth. If you dump trash, you're dumping it on your and my ancestors. Or to bring it down to its simplest level: treat everything and everybody the way you want to be treated, because when you hurt someone, you're only hurting yourself. life spirit Charles de Lint
9e7346d Francis Crozier believes in nothing. . It has no plan, no point, no hidden mysteries that make up for the oh-so-obvious miseries and banalities. Nothing he has learned in the past six months has persuaded him otherwise. Has it? belief brutish francis-rawdon-moira-crozier hidden-mysteries hobbe-s-leviathan life miseries nasty poor short solitary Dan Simmons
23c63e5 ...but the truly frightening thing was to learn that his mother was no stronger than he was, that the blows of the world hurt her just as much as they hurt him and that except for the fact that she was older, there was no difference between them. life parents parents-and-children Paul Auster
3236d83 All this was new to me. Life takes us by surprise and orders us to move towards the unknown - even when we don't want to and we think we don't need to. life surprises Paulo Coelho
4ae4e1d Not only did I rediscover every experience of my life, I had to live each unfulfilled desire as well--as though they'd been fulfilled. I saw that what transpires in the mind is just as real as any flesh and blood occurrence. What had only been imagination in life, now became tangible, each fantasy a full reality. I lived them all--while, at the same time, standing to the side, a witness to their, often, intimate squalor. A witness cursed with total objectivity. life Richard Matheson
c8d9e6a What doesn't kill you will make you stronger life parenting Jeannette Walls
a8065d2 "You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison? Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born, And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret. But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written. You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, And all knowledge is vain save when there is work, And all work is empty save when there is love; And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God. And what is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house. It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit. It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit, And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching. Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil. And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet." But I say, not in sleep but in the overwakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass; And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving. Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night." life love Kahlil Gibran
1266c2c Life will be wonderful when men no longer fear dying. When the last superstitions are thrown out and we meet death with the same equanimity as life. No longer will children's minds be twisted by evil gods whose fantastic origin is in those barbaric tribes who feared death and lightning, who feared life. That's it: life is the villain to to those who preach reward in death, through grace and eternal bliss, or through dark revenge. gore-vidal life messiah Gore Vidal
7edfd9e You go from dream to dream inside me. You have passage to my last shabby corner, and there, among the debris, you've found life. I'm no longer sure which of all the words, images, dreams or ghosts are 'yours' and which are 'mine.' It's past sorting out. life love Thomas Pynchon
008d8fd So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. life strength J.K. Rowling
f8c0b1e Who can ever know what path to walk on when all of them are either crooked or broken? One just has to walk. free-will life truth Ishmael Beah
d128667 That's evolution. Evolution's always hard. Hard and bleak. No such thing as happy evolution life suffering Haruki Murakami
84ee194 When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth education life motherhood teaching Chinua Achebe
146da9f Things certainly aren't the way you imagine them when you're a kid and dreaming big dreams about what your life as a grown-up will look like. life marriage relationships Emily Giffin
1c352fb Towards the end of your life you have something like a pain schedule to fill out--a long schedule like a federal document, only it's your pain schedule. Endless categories. First, physical causes--like arthritis, gallstones, menstrual cramps. New category, injured vanity, betrayal, swindle, injustice. But the hardest items of all have to do with love. The question then is: So why does everybody persist? If love cuts them up so much.... life midlife-crisis pain-schedule Saul Bellow
b7437a1 And a lot of it will be wrong, but just enough of it will be right. life right wrong Ray Bradbury
c088a1e Some things are too big to be seen; some emotions too huge to be felt. life sandman Neil Gaiman
a2772f1 Life is full of toil, sacrifice, and pain, and from the time we stop growing, we know that we've begun dying. We watch helplessly as year by year, our bodies age and fail, while our survival instincts compel us to keep on going-which means living with the terrifying knowledge that ultimately death is inescapable. harry-dresden life Jim Butcher
36c3aaf "You have grudged the very fire in your house because the wood cost overmuch!" he cried. "You have grudged life. To live cost overmuch, and you have refused to pay the price. Your life has been like a cabin where the fire is out and there are no blankets on the floor." He signaled to a slave to fill his glass, which he held aloft. "But I have lived. And I have been warm with life as you have never been warm. It is true, you shall live long. But the longest nights are the cold nights when a man shivers and lies awake. My nights have been short, but I have slept warm" fulfillment life reservation Jack London
51eaa6d I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. fearless fearlessness life Yann Martel
e0d4f63 No matter what I accomplish, it doesn't seem like much compared to surviving Auschwitz. death life survival Art Spiegelman
49242d0 This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so, it is a chance which does redeem all sorrows that ever I have felt. grief life William Shakespeare
cbad4d6 In a world where everyone struggles to survive whatever the cost, how could one judge those who decide to die? inspirational life people suicide survival writing Paulo Coelho