β
Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight.
β
β
Phyllis Diller
β
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
β
β
Anonymous (Holy Bible: New International Version)
β
The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.
β
β
Joe Klaas (The Twelve Steps to Happiness: A Practical Handbook for Understanding and Working the Twelve Step Programs for Alcoholism, Codependency, Eating Disorders, and Other Addictions)
β
Donβt waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.
β
β
Patrick Rothfuss (The Wise Manβs Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2))
β
Angry people are not always wise.
β
β
Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)
β
My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.
β
β
William Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew)
β
Not my daughter, you bitch!
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7))
β
Holding anger is a poison...It eats you from inside...We think that by hating someone we hurt them...But hatred is a curved blade...and the harm we do to others...we also do to ourselves.
β
β
Mitch Albom (The Five People You Meet in Heaven)
β
The longer I live, the more I observe that carrying around anger is the most debilitating to the person who bears it.
β
β
Katharine Graham
β
The best fighter is never angry.
β
β
Lao Tzu
β
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1))
β
Say 'provoking' again. Your mouth looks provocative when you do.
β
β
Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1))
β
Humor is almost always anger with its make-up on.
β
β
Stephen King (Bag of Bones)
β
Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.
To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
β
β
Christian D. Larson (Your Forces and How to Use Them)
β
Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
β
β
Maya Angelou
β
I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3))
β
Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.
β
β
Ambrose Bierce
β
Hello, Harry" said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."
"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5))
β
I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish⦠You see, it is difficult to get all which I want. And then when I do not succeed I get mad with anger.
β
β
Simone de Beauvoir
β
Anybody can become angry β that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way β that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
β
β
Aristotle
β
When angry, count four. When very angry, swear.
β
β
Mark Twain
β
Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything - anger, anxiety, or possessions - we cannot be free.
β
β
Thich Nhat Hanh (The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation)
β
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
β
β
Gautama Buddha
β
Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn't change the heart of others-- it only changes yours.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder (300 Questions to Ask Your Parents Before It's Too Late)
β
Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear.
β
β
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
β
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
β
β
Mark Twain
β
Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, "What else could this mean?
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
You canβt tell me
what to do anymore, Travis! I donβt belong to you!β
In the second it took him to turn and face me, his
expression had contorted into anger. He stomped toward
me, planting his hands on the bed and leaning into my face.
βWELL I BELONG TO YOU!β The veins in his neck
bulged as he shouted, and I met his glare, refusing to even
flinch. He looked at my lips, panting. βI belong to you.
β
β
Jamie McGuire (Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1))
β
It is wise to direct your anger towards problems -- not people; to focus your energies on answers -- not excuses.
β
β
William Arthur Ward
β
If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you're allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.
β
β
Malcolm X
β
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
β
β
Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)
β
If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it- to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger.
β
β
Sarah J. Maas (The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5))
β
Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if he deserves it...Don't allow his anger to become your anger.
β
β
Bohdi Sanders (Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior)
β
I'm not really sure why. But... do you stop loving someone just because they betray you? I don't think so. That's what makes the betrayal hurt so much - pain, frustration, anger... and I still loved her. I still do.
β
β
Brandon Sanderson (The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1))
β
In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.
β
β
Michael Jackson
β
Was I bitter? Absolutely. Hurt? You bet your sweet ass I was hurt. Who doesn't feel a part of their heart break at rejection. You ask yourself every question you can think of, what, why, how come, and then your sadness turns to anger. That's my favorite part. It drives me, feeds me, and makes one hell of a story.
β
β
Jennifer Salaiz
β
You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.
β
β
Gautama Buddha
β
Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain. If somebody is rude and inconsiderate, you can almost be certain that they have some unresolved issues inside. They have some major problems, anger, resentment, or some heartache they are trying to cope with or overcome. The last thing they need is for you to make matters worse by responding angrily.
β
β
Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)
β
A heart filled with anger has no room for love.
β
β
Joan Lunden (Wake-Up Calls: Making The Most Out Of Every Day (Regardless Of What Life Throws You))
β
Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.
β
β
Augustine of Hippo
β
People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.
β
β
Charles Bukowski
β
There was an electric anger in his gaze, and a sort of challenge that made Simon long to hit him with something heavy. Like a pickup truck.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Maybe I needed sensitivity training. I once signed up for an anger management class, but the instructor pissed me off.
β
β
Darynda Jones (First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, #1))
β
So you try to think of someone else you're mad at, and the unavoidable answer pops into your little warped brain: everyone.
β
β
Ellen Hopkins
β
I want to say somewhere: I've tried to be forgiving. And yet. There were times in my life, whole years, when anger got the better of me. Ugliness turned me inside out. There was a certain satisfaction in bitterness. I courted it. It was standing outside, and I invited it in.
β
β
Nicole Krauss (The History of Love)
β
Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.
β
β
Mitch Albom (The Five People You Meet in Heaven)
β
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master;
he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.
β
β
Epictetus
β
A flood of emotions rushes into me. Pain and anger. Sadness and pity. But most surprising of all, hope.
β
β
Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)
β
Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.
[Verse 223]
β
β
Gautama Buddha (The Dhammapada)
β
A fight is going on inside me," said an old man to his son. "It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you."
The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, "Which wolf will win?"
The old man replied simply, "The one you feed.
β
β
Wendy Mass (Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life)
β
A void in my chest was beginning to fill with anger. Quiet, defeated anger that guaranteed me the right to my hurt, that believed no one could possibly understand that hurt.
β
β
Rachel Sontag (House Rules)
β
All cruelty springs from weakness.
β
β
Seneca (Seneca's Morals: Of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency)
β
That's why I want you there, he said. You're unpredictable, and that can be the difference between success and failure. Most people make decisions in anger, fear, love, or obligation. You make decisions to irritate people.
β
β
Kim Harrison (For a Few Demons More (The Hollows, #5))
β
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow
β
β
Rainer Maria Rilke
β
Hermione drew herself to her full height; her eyes were narrowed and her hair seemed to crackle with electricity.
"No," she said, her voice quivering with anger, "but I will write to your mother.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5))
β
Every time you
tell your daughter
you yell at her
out of love
you teach her to confuse
anger with kindness
which seems like a good idea
till she grows up to
trust men who hurt her
cause they look so much
like you.
β
β
Rupi Kaur
β
Jesus.β Blake rubbed his throat. βYou have anger management problems. Its like a disease.β
βThereβs a cure and itβs called kicking your ass.
β
β
Jennifer L. Armentrout (Onyx (Lux, #2))
β
There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.
β
β
Plato
β
Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be read to fight the enemy you can see.
β
β
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
β
Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.
β
β
Socrates
β
Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge & harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul. Get even with people...but not those who have hurt us, forget them, instead get even with those who have helped us.
β
β
Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
β
Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
β
β
George Lucas (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Star Wars Novelizations, #1))
β
People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in the ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.
β
β
Diane Setterfield (The Thirteenth Tale)
β
Most hatred is based on fear, one way or another. Yeah. I wrapped myself in anger, with a dash of hate, and at the bottom of it all was an icy center of pure terror.
β
β
Laurell K. Hamilton (Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #1))
β
The throne rumbled. A wave of gale-force anger slammed into me.
WHO DARES-
The voice stopped abruptly, The anger retreated, which was a good thing, because just those two words had almost blasted my mind to shreds.
Percy. My fathers voice was still angry but more controlled. What-exactly-are you doing on my throne?
"I'm sorry, Father," I said. "I needed to get your attention."
This was a very dangerous thing to do. Even for you. If I hadn't looked before I blasted, you would now be a puddle of seawater.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5))
β
My mother's psychologist says I have an overactive anger switch, but people just keep pissing me off.
β
β
Meg Cabot (Darkest Hour (The Mediator, #4))
β
Transformation is my favorite game and in my experience, anger and frustration are the result of you not being authentic somewhere in your life or with someone in your life. Being fake about anything creates a block inside of you. Life canβt work for you if you donβt show up as you.
β
β
Jason Mraz
β
Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love.
β
β
Leo F. Buscaglia
β
Anger ... it's a paralyzing emotion ... you can't get anything done. People sort of think it's an interesting, passionate, and igniting feeling β I don't think it's any of that β it's helpless ... it's absence of control β and I need all of my skills, all of the control, all of my powers ... and anger doesn't provide any of that β I have no use for it whatsoever."
[Interview with CBS radio host Don Swaim, September 15, 1987.]
β
β
Toni Morrison
β
People pontificate, "Suicide is selfishness." Career churchmen like Pater go a step further and call in a cowardly assault on the living. Oafs argue this specious line for varying reason: to evade fingers of blame, to impress one's audience with one's mental fiber, to vent anger, or just because one lacks the necessary suffering to sympathize. Cowardice is nothing to do with it - suicide takes considerable courage. Japanese have the right idea. No, what's selfish is to demand another to endure an intolerable existence, just to spare families, friends, and enemies a bit of soul-searching.
β
β
David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)
β
Were you in love with him?'
'Yes,' I say, simply. James and I put each other through the kind of reckless passions Gwendolyn once talked about, joy and anger and desire and despair. After all that, was it really so strange? I am no longer baffled or amazed or embarrassed by it. 'Yes, I was.' It's not the whole truth. The whole truth is, I'm in love with him still.
β
β
M.L. Rio (If We Were Villains)
β
Never forget that God is your friend. And like all friends, He longs to hear what's been happening in your life. Good or bad, whether it's been full of sorrow or anger, or even when you're questioning why terrible things have to happen.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (The Last Song)
β
No, I can just read you. Finally. I can't believe how blind I was. I can't believe I never noticed. Victor's comment...he was right." She glanced off at the sunset, then turned her gaze back on me. A flash of anger, both in her feelings and her eyes, hit me. "Why didn't you tell me?" she cried. "Why didn't you tell me you loved Dimitri?
β
β
Richelle Mead (Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3))
β
All the most powerful emotions come from chaos -fear,anger,love- especially love. Love is chaos itself. Think about it! Love makes no sense. It shakes you up and spins you around. And then, eventually , it falls apart.
β
β
Kirsten Miller (The Eternal Ones (Eternal Ones, #1))
β
I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal." Anger replaced my fear. I didn't like being treated like a child.
"Stop calling me that. You don't even know what you're talking about."
"Sure I do. I had to do a report on the R.S.S.R. last year.
β
β
Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1))
β
I love you. I hate you. I like you. I hate you. I love you. I think youβre stupid. I think youβre a loser. I think youβre wonderful. I want to be with you. I donβt want to be with you. I would never date you. I hate you. I love youβ¦..I think the madness started the moment we met and you shook my hand. Did you have a disease or something?
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart.
β
β
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
β
We all get lost once in a while, sometimes by choice, sometimes due to forces beyond our control. When we learn what it is our soul needs to learn, the path presents itself. Sometimes we see the way out but wander further and deeper despite ourselves; the fear, the anger or the sadness preventing us returning. Sometimes we prefer to be lost and wandering, sometimes it's easier. Sometimes we find our own way out. But regardless, always, we are found.
β
β
Cecelia Ahern (Thanks for the Memories)
β
Anger is like flowing water; there's nothing wrong with it as long as you let it flow. Hate is like stagnant water; anger that you denied yourself the freedom to feel, the freedom to flow; water that you gathered in one place and left to forget. Stagnant water becomes dirty, stinky, disease-ridden, poisonous, deadly; that is your hate. On flowing water travels little paper boats; paper boats of forgiveness. Allow yourself to feel anger, allow your waters to flow, along with all the paper boats of forgiveness. Be human.
β
β
C. JoyBell C.
β
It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe.
To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I'd been happy, and that I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration.
β
β
Albert Camus (The Stranger)
β
Whoa, who peed in your Cheerios?
β
β
Becca Fitzpatrick (Crescendo (Hush, Hush, #2))
β
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can't tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own - not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.
β
β
Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)
β
You're insane!" she shouted.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
"No!"Tally yelled. "Why didn't you tell me it was broken?"
Shay shrugged. "More fun that way?"
"More fun?" Her heart beating fast,her vision strangely clear. She was full of anger and relief and...joy.
"Well, kind of. But you suck!
β
β
Scott Westerfeld (Uglies (Uglies, #1))
β
Argh!" Thalia pushed me, and a shock went through my body that blew me backward ten feet into the water. Some of the campers gasped. A couple of the Hunters stifled laughs.
"Sorry!" Thalia said, turning pale. "I didn't mean toβ"
Anger roared in my ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia's face and dousing her from head to toe.
I stood up. "Yeah," I growled. "I didn't mean to, either."
Thalia was breathing heavily.
"Enough!" Chiron ordered.
But Thalia held out her spear. "You want some, Seaweed Brain?"
Somehow, it was okay when Annabeth called me that β at least, I'd gotten used to it β but hearing it from Thalia was not cool.
"Bring it on, Pinecone Face!
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Titanβs Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3))
β
That initial anger she had felt turned to sadness, and now it had become something else, almost a dullness of sorts. Even though she was constantly in motion, it seemed as if nothing special ever happened to her anymore. Each day seemed exactly like the last, and she had trouble differentiating among them.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle)
β
Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to oneβs own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness.
β
β
Audre Lorde (Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches)
β
Anger is just anger. It isn't good. It isn't bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. It's like anything else. You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice."
Constructive anger," the demon said, her voice dripping sarcasm.
Also known as passion," I said quietly. "Passion has overthrown tyrants and freed prisoners and slaves. Passion has brought justice where there was savagery. Passion has created freedom where there was nothing but fear. Passion has helped souls rise from the ashes of their horrible lives and build something better, stronger, more beautiful.
β
β
Jim Butcher (White Night (The Dresden Files, #9))
β
β¦feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that weβre holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel weβd rather collapse and back away. Theyβre like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where weβre stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, itβs with us wherever we are.
β
β
Pema ChΓΆdrΓΆn
β
Why waste my anger on you when the fault is mine? I should have anticipated another betrayal from you, one more mad grasp at some kind of childish ideal. But I seem to be a victim of my own wishes where you are concerned.β His expression hardened. βWhat have you come here for, Alina?β
I answered him honestly. βI wanted to see you.β
I caught the briefest glimpse of surprise before his face shuttered again. βThere are two thrones on that dais. You could see me any time you liked.
β
β
Leigh Bardugo (Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #3))
β
You Chose
You chose.
You chose.
You chose.
You chose to give away your love.
You chose to have a broken heart.
You chose to give up.
You chose to hang on.
You chose to react.
You chose to feel insecure.
You chose to feel anger.
You chose to fight back.
You chose to have hope.
You chose to be naΓ―ve.
You chose to ignore your intuition.
You chose to ignore advice.
You chose to look the other way.
You chose to not listen.
You chose to be stuck in the past.
You chose your perspective.
You chose to blame.
You chose to be right.
You chose your pride.
You chose your games.
You chose your ego.
You chose your paranoia.
You chose to compete.
You chose your enemies.
You chose your consequences.
You chose.
You chose.
You chose.
You chose.
However, you are not alone. Generations of women in your family have chosen. Women around the world have chosen. We all have chosen at one time in our lives. We stand behind you now screaming:
Choose to let go.
Choose dignity.
Choose to forgive yourself.
Choose to forgive others.
Choose to see your value.
Choose to show the world youβre not a victim.
Choose to make us proud.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
It is important not to suppress your feelings altogether when you are depressed. It is equally important to avoid terrible arguments or expressions of outrage. You should steer clear of emotionally damaging behavior. People forgive, but it is best not to stir things up to the point at which forgiveness is required. When you are depressed, you need the love of other people, and yet depression fosters actions that destroy that love. Depressed people often stick pins into their own life rafts. The conscious mind can intervene. One is not helpless.
β
β
Andrew Solomon (The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression)
β
Do you love me?' I asked her. She smiled. 'Yes.' 'Do you want me to be happy?' as I asked her this I felt my heart beginning to race. 'Of course I do.' 'Will you do something for me then?' She looked away, sadness crossing her features. 'I don't know if I can anymore.' she said. 'but if you could, would you?' I cannot adequately describe the intensity of what I was feeling at that moment. Love, anger, sadness, hope, and fear, whirling together sharpened by the nervousness I was feeling. Jamie looked at me curiously and my breaths became shallower. Suddenly I knew that I'd never felt as strongly for another person as I did at that moment. As I returned her gaze, this simple realization made me wish for the millionth time that I could make all this go away. Had it been possible, I would have traded my life for hers. I wanted to tell her my thoughts, but the sound of her voice suddenly silenced the emotions inside me. 'yes' she finally said, her voice weak yet somehow still full of promise. 'I would.' Finally getting control of myself I kissed her again, then brought my hand to her face, gently running my fingers over her cheek. I marveled at the softness of her skin, the gentleness I saw in her eyes. even now she was perfect. My throat began to tighten again, but as I said, I knew what I had to do. Since I had to accept that it was not within my power to cure her, what I wanted to do was give her something that she'd wanted. It was what my heart had been telling me to do all along. Jamie, I understood then, had already given me the answer I'd been searching for, the answer my heart needed to find. She'd told me outside Mr. Jenkins office, the night we'd asked him about doing the play. I smiled softly, and she returned my affection with a slight squeeze of my hand, as if trusting me in what I was about to do. Encouraged, I leaned closer and took a deep breath. When I exhaled, these were the words that flowed with my breath. 'Will you marry me?
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Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)
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Never assume that the person you are dealing with is weaker or less important than you are. Some people are slow to take offense, which may make you misjudge the thickness of their skin, and fail to worry about insulting them. But should you offend their honor and their pride, they will overwhelm you with a violence that seems sudden and extreme given their slowness to anger. If you want to turn people down, it is best to do so politely and respectfully, even if you feel their request is impudent or their offer ridiculous.
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Robert Greene (The 48 Laws of Power)
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For everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing: for the wing of love there is anger; for the wing of destiny there is fear; for the wing of pain there is healing; for the wing of hurt there is forgiveness; for the wing of pride there is humility; for the wing of giving there is taking; for the wing of tears there is joy; for the wing of rejection there is acceptance; for the wing of judgment there is grace; for the wing of honor there is shame; for the wing of letting go there is the wing of keeping. We can only fly with two wings and two wings can only stay in the air if there is a balance. Two beautiful wings is perfection. There is a generation of people who idealize perfection as the existence of only one of these wings every time. But I see that a bird with one wing is imperfect. An angel with one wing is imperfect. A butterfly with one wing is dead. So this generation of people strive to always cut off the other wing in the hopes of embodying their ideal of perfection, and in doing so, have created a crippled race.
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C. JoyBell C.
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YOUR ABUSIVE PARTNER DOESNβT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HIS ANGER; HE HAS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR ANGER.
One of the basic human rights he takes away from you is the right to be angry with him. No matter how badly he treats you, he believes that your voice shouldnβt rise and your blood shouldnβt boil. The privilege of rage is reserved for him alone. When your anger does jump out of youβas will happen to any abused woman from time to timeβhe is likely to try to jam it back down your throat as quickly as he can. Then he uses your anger against you to prove what an irrational person you are. Abuse can make you feel straitjacketed. You may develop physical or emotional reactions to swallowing your anger, such as depression, nightmares, emotional numbing, or eating and sleeping problems, which your partner may use as an excuse to belittle you further or make you feel crazy.
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Lundy Bancroft (Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men)
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According to Buddhism, the root of suffering is neither the feeling of pain nor of sadness nor even of meaninglessness. Rather, the real root of suffering is this never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to be in a constant state of tension, restlessness and dissatisfaction. Due to this pursuit, the mind is never satisfied. Even when experiencing pleasure, it is not content, because it fears this feeling might soon disappear, and craves that this feeling should stay and intensify. People are liberated from suffering not when they experience this or that fleeting pleasure, but rather when they understand the impermanent nature of all their feelings, and stop craving them. This is the aim of Buddhist meditation practices. In meditation, you are supposed to closely observe your mind and body, witness the ceaseless arising and passing of all your feelings, and realise how pointless it is to pursue them. When the pursuit stops, the mind becomes very relaxed, clear and satisfied. All kinds of feelings go on arising and passing β joy, anger, boredom, lust β but once you stop craving particular feelings, you can just accept them for what they are. You live in the present moment instead of fantasising about what might have been. The resulting serenity is so profound that those who spend their lives in the frenzied pursuit of pleasant feelings can hardly imagine it. It is like a man standing for decades on the seashore, embracing certain βgoodβ waves and trying to prevent them from disintegrating, while simultaneously pushing back βbadβ waves to prevent them from getting near him. Day in, day out, the man stands on the beach, driving himself crazy with this fruitless exercise. Eventually, he sits down on the sand and just allows the waves to come and go as they please. How peaceful!
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Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind)
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I want you to tell me about every person youβve ever been in love with.
Tell me why you loved them,
then tell me why they loved you.
Tell me about a day in your life you didnβt think youβd live through.
Tell me what the word home means to you
and tell me in a way that Iβll know your motherβs name
just by the way you describe your bedroom
when you were eight.
See, I want to know the first time you felt the weight of hate,
and if that day still trembles beneath your bones.
Do you prefer to play in puddles of rain
or bounce in the bellies of snow?
And if you were to build a snowman,
would you rip two branches from a tree to build your snowman arms
or would leave your snowman armless
for the sake of being harmless to the tree?
And if you would,
would you notice how that tree weeps for you
because your snowman has no arms to hug you
every time you kiss him on the cheek?
Do you kiss your friends on the cheek?
Do you sleep beside them when theyβre sad
even if it makes your lover mad?
Do you think that anger is a sincere emotion
or just the timid motion of a fragile heart trying to beat away its pain?
See, I wanna know what you think of your first name,
and if you often lie awake at night and imagine your motherβs joy
when she spoke it for the very first time.
I want you to tell me all the ways youβve been unkind.
Tell me all the ways youβve been cruel.
Tell me, knowing I often picture Gandhi at ten years old
beating up little boys at school.
If you were walking by a chemical plant
where smokestacks were filling the sky with dark black clouds
would you holler βPoison! Poison! Poison!β really loud
or would you whisper
βThat cloud looks like a fish,
and that cloud looks like a fairy!β
Do you believe that Mary was really a virgin?
Do you believe that Moses really parted the sea?
And if you donβt believe in miracles, tell me β
how would you explain the miracle of my life to me?
See, I wanna know if you believe in any god
or if you believe in many gods
or better yet
what gods believe in you.
And for all the times that youβve knelt before the temple of yourself,
have the prayers you asked come true?
And if they didnβt, did you feel denied?
And if you felt denied,
denied by who?
I wanna know what you see when you look in the mirror
on a day youβre feeling good.
I wanna know what you see when you look in the mirror
on a day youβre feeling bad.
I wanna know the first person who taught you your beauty
could ever be reflected on a lousy piece of glass.
If you ever reach enlightenment
will you remember how to laugh?
Have you ever been a song?
Would you think less of me
if I told you Iβve lived my entire life a little off-key?
And Iβm not nearly as smart as my poetry
I just plagiarize the thoughts of the people around me
who have learned the wisdom of silence.
Do you believe that concrete perpetuates violence?
And if you do β
I want you to tell me of a meadow
where my skateboard will soar.
See, I wanna know more than what you do for a living.
I wanna know how much of your life you spend just giving,
and if you love yourself enough to also receive sometimes.
I wanna know if you bleed sometimes
from other peopleβs wounds,
and if you dream sometimes
that this life is just a balloon β
that if you wanted to, you could pop,
but you never would
βcause youβd never want it to stop.
If a tree fell in the forest
and you were the only one there to hear β
if its fall to the ground didnβt make a sound,
would you panic in fear that you didnβt exist,
or would you bask in the bliss of your nothingness?
And lastly, let me ask you this:
If you and I went for a walk
and the entire walk, we didnβt talk β
do you think eventually, weβdβ¦ kiss?
No, wait.
Thatβs asking too much β
after all,
this is only our first date.
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Andrea Gibson
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HELPED are those who are content to be themselves; they will never lack mystery in their lives and the joys of self-discovery will be constant.
HELPED are those who love the entire cosmos rather than their own tiny country, city, or farm, for to them will be shown the unbroken web of life and the meaning of infinity.
HELPED are those who live in quietness, knowing neither brand name nor fad; they shall live every day as if in eternity, and each moment shall be as full as it is long.
HELPED are those who love others unsplit off from their faults; to them will be given clarity of vision.
HELPED are those who create anything at all, for they shall relive the thrill of their own conception, and realize an partnership in the creation of the Universe that keeps them responsible and cheerful.
HELPED are those who love the Earth, their mother, and who willingly suffer that she may not die; in their grief over her pain they will weep rivers of blood, and in their joy in her lively response to love, they will converse with the trees.
HELPED are those whose ever act is a prayer for harmony in the Universe, for they are the restorers of balance to our planet. To them will be given the insight that every good act done anywhere in the cosmos welcomes the life of an animal or a child.
HELPED are those who risk themselves for others' sakes; to them will be given increasing opportunities for ever greater risks. Theirs will be a vision of the word in which no one's gift is despised or lost.
HELPED are those who strive to give up their anger; their reward will be that in any confrontation their first thoughts will never be of violence or of war.
HELPED are those whose every act is a prayer for peace; on them depends the future of the world.
HELPED are those who forgive; their reward shall be forgiveness of every evil done to them. It will be in their power, therefore, to envision the new Earth.
HELPED are those who are shown the existence of the Creator's magic in the Universe; they shall experience delight and astonishment without ceasing.
HELPED are those who laugh with a pure heart; theirs will be the company of the jolly righteous.
HELPED are those who love all the colors of all the human beings, as they love all the colors of the animals and plants; none of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.
HELPED are those who love the lesbian, the gay, and the straight, as they love the sun, the moon, and the stars. None of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.
HELPED are those who love the broken and the whole; none of their children, nor any of their ancestors, nor any parts of themselves, shall be hidden from them.
HELPED are those who do not join mobs; theirs shall be the understanding that to attack in anger is to murder in confusion.
HELPED are those who find the courage to do at least one small thing each day to help the existence of another--plant, animal, river, or human being. They shall be joined by a multitude of the timid.
HELPED are those who lose their fear of death; theirs is the power to envision the future in a blade of grass.
HELPED are those who love and actively support the diversity of life; they shall be secure in their differences.
HELPED are those who KNOW.
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Alice Walker