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Not everything has an answer." Alma found this to be such a staggering piece of intelligence that she was struck dumb by it for several hours. All she could do was sit and ponder the notion in an amazed stupor."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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8d5c96d
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Little Brother, an aspiring painter, saved up all his money and went to France, to surround himself with beauty and inspiration. He lived on the cheap, painted every day, visited museums, traveled to picturesque locations, bravely spoke to everyone he met, and showed his work to anyone who would look at it. One afternoon, Little Brother struck up a conversation in a cafe with a group of charming young people, who turned out to be some speci..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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4017994
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Do what you love to do, and do it with both seriousness and lightness. At least then you will know that you have tried and that--whatever the outcome--you have traveled a noble path.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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In the end, it seems to me that forgiveness may be the only realistic antidote we are offered in love, to combat the inescapable disappointments of intimacy.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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c73a6af
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When we speak today, then, about "holy wedded matrimony," or the "sanctity of marriage," we would do well to remember that, for approximately ten centuries, Christianity itself did not see marriage as being either holy or sanctified. Marriage was certainly not modeled as the ideal state of moral being. On the contrary, the early Christian fathers regarded the habit of marriage as a somewhat repugnant worldly affair that had everything to do..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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939fb0e
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I don't want to be married anymore. In daylight hours, I refused that thought, but at night it would consume me. What a catastrophe. How could I be such a criminal jerk as to proceed this deep into a marriage, only to leave it? We'd only just bought this house a year ago. Hadn't I wanted this nice house? Hadn't I loved it? So why was I haunting its halls every night now, howling like Medea? Wasn't I proud of all we'd accumulated--the presti..
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marriage
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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6ec609e
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Because if you love and want something enough--whatever it is--then you don't really mind eating the shit sandwich that comes with it.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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e85c336
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Your creative work is not your baby; if anything, you are its baby.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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3271a64
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Sometimes you will need to leap from one end of this paradoxical spectrum to the other in a matter of minutes, and then back again. As I write this book, for instance, I approach each sentence as if the future of humanity depends upon my getting that sentence just right. I care, because I want it to be lovely. Therefore, anything less than a full commitment to that sentence is lazy and dishonorable. But as I edit my sentence--sometimes imme..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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25d1825
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I am openly prideful, secretly judgemental, and cowardly in conflict.
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myself
self-awareness
self-realization
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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b9ef880
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The image of the tragic artist who lays down his tools rather than fall short of his impeccable ideals holds no romance for me. I don't see this path as heroic. I think it's far more honorable to stay in the game - even if you're objectively losing the game - than to excuse yourself from participation because of your delicate sensibilities. But in order to stay in the game, you must let go of your fantasy of perfection.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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4a79c58
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The Indians around here tell a cautionary fable about a great saint who was always surrounded in his Ashram by loyal devotees. For hours a day, the saint and his followers would meditate on God. The only problem was that the saint had a young cat, an annoying creature, who used to walk through the temple meowing and purring and bothering everyone during meditation. So the saint, in all his practical wisdom, commanded that the cat be tied to..
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india
meditation
religion
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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d470e42
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As for having reached the top, with only one way to go from there, Lee had a point, no? I mean, if you cannot repeat a once-in-a-lifetime miracle--if you can never again reach the top--then why bother creating at all? Well, I can actually speak about this predicament from personal experience, because I myself was once "at the top"--with a book that sat on the bestseller list for more than three years. I can't tell you how many people said t..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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1f73799
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But I love him." "So love him." "But I miss him." "So miss him. Send some love and light every time you think about him, and then drop it. [...]"
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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6c92962
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The most urgent war is always the one fought at home
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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c754717
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Love over suffering, always.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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d6cd854
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creativity is a gift to the creator, not just a gift to the audience).
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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4be2b70
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What you absolutely must not do is turn around and walk out. Otherwise, you will miss the party, and that would be a pity, because--please believe me--we did not come all this great distance, and make all this great effort, only to miss the party at the last moment.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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cea3774
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We need you to reveal to us what you know, what you have learned, what you have seen and felt. If you are older, chances are strong that you may already possess absolutely everything you need to possess in order to live a more creative life - except the confidence to actually do your work. But we need you to do your work. Whether you are young or old, we need your work in order to enrich and inform our own lives.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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3147738
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Possessing a creative mind, after all, is something like having a border collie for a pet: It needs to work, or else it will cause you an outrageous amount of trouble.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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d8ff096
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any motion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn to motion.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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614eab1
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What do you love even more than you love your own ego?
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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cd825cc
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In ancient Greek, the word for the highest degree of human happiness is eudaimonia, which basically means "well-daemoned"--that is, nicely taken care of by some external divine creative spirit guide."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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46b007e
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I do truly believe I am fortunate. I am fortunate because I have been able to spend my life in study of the world. As such, I have never felt insignificant. This life is a mystery, yes, and it is often a trial, but if one can find some facts within it, one should always do so--for knowledge is the most precious of all commodities.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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c4d69a3
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Struggle explained everything.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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e80ca53
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Revere your senses; don't degrade them with drugs, with depression, with willful oblivion. Try to notice something new every day, Eustace said. Pay attention to even the most modest of daily details. Even if you're not in the woods, be aware at all times. Notice what food tastes like, notice what the detergent aisle in the supermarket smells like and recognize what those hard chemical smells do to your senses; notice what bare feet feel lik..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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018fc31
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Her sadness was ceaseless, but she kept it quarantined in a governable little quarter of her heart. It was the best she could do.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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1c57c3c
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You are worthy, dear one, regardless of the outcome. You will keep making your work, regardless of the outcome. You will keep sharing your work, regardless of the outcome. You were born to create, regardless of the outcome. You will never lose trust in the creative process, even when you don't understand the outcome." There"
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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8bcb863
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You do not need anybody's permission to live a creative life.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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The truth is, you need your fear, for obvious reasons of basic survival.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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550acd2
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I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours: The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels--that's creative living.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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a8712fd
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Italian men are beautiful in the same way as French women, which is to say - no detail spared in the quest for perfection.
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french
italians
perfection
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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1b0cc88
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Inspiration is trying to send me messages in every form it can--through dreams, through portents, through clues, through coincidences, through deja vu, through kismet, through surprising waves of attraction and reaction, through the chills that run up my arms, through the hair that stands up on the back of my neck, through the pleasure of something new and surprising, through stubborn ideas that keep me awake all night long . . . whatever w..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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e6896ea
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Martyr says: "Life is pain." Trickster says: "Life is interesting."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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When I refer to "creative living," I am speaking more broadly. I'm talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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80ba5a3
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lHzn w ldh~ l ymkn tjnbhm fy hdhh lHy@ , wlw wqft bskwn lmd@ Twyl@ bm ykfy , stktshf m` lwqt Hqyq@ 'n kl shy ('kn mz`j 'm mryH ) ymr fy lnhy@ !
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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d92d0d6
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yqwl Hkm lywG : n llm ldhy y`ny@ lbshr ntj `n lklmt.... tmm mthl lfrH
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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c95dd05
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Your fear will always be triggered by your creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into the realms of uncertain outcome, and fear hates uncertain outcome.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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8dd78e6
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It has taken me years to learn this, but it does seem to be the case that if I am not actively creating something, then I am probably actively destroying something (myself, a relationship, or my own peace of mind).
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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e4eab26
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If you can't do what you long to do, go do something else. Go walk the dog, go pick up every bit of trash on the street outside your home, go walk the dog again, go bake a peach cobbler, go paint some pebbles with brightly colored nail polish and put them in a pile. You might think it's procrastiantion, but - with the right intention - it isn't; it's motion. And any motion whatsoever beats inertia, because inspiration will always be drawn t..
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feeling-stuck
getting-unstuck
keep-moving
motion-forward
moving-forward
what-next
what-to-do-next
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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9719e05
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Everyone should leave the table feeling as if they've gotten a bad deal," my father once taught me joylessly. "This way, you may rest assured that nobody was taken for a ride, and that nobody can get too far ahead.")"
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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He became as close to me as my own, beautiful, random, and real family. Love like that is a deep well, with steep sides. Once you fall in, that's it--you will love that person always
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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2e142a5
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ynbGy `lyk 'l t`Ty nfsk lfrS@ llnhyr l'nh Hyn tf`lyn dhlk ySbH l'mr nz`@ ldyk ttkrr mrran, `lyk 'n t`wd nfsk `l~ 'n tbq~ qwyan `wDan `n dhlk.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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6aad532
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Resist change at your own peril, Vivian. When something ends, let it end.
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elizabeth-gilbert-quotes
endings
let-it-be
let-it-go
quotes-about-change
resistance-to-change
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Elizabeth Gilbert |