β
And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
β
β
Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
β
Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someoneβs life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
β
β
Kathryn Stockett (The Help)
β
All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.
β
β
Mitch Albom (The Five People You Meet in Heaven)
β
Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge youβll never walk alone.
...
We leave you a tradition with a future.
The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete.
People even more than things have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed.
Never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, youβll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Your βgood old daysβ are still ahead of you, may you have many of them.
β
β
Sam Levenson (In One Era & Out the Other)
β
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me.
β
β
William Nicholson (Shadowlands: A Play)
β
My only advice is to stay aware, listen carefully, and yell for help if you need it.
β
β
Judy Blume
β
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.
β
β
Maya Angelou
β
Always remember people who have helped you along the way, and donβt forget to lift someone up.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."
(Keynote speech at Celebrating Inspiration luncheon with the WNBA's All-Decade Team, 2006)
β
β
Madeleine K. Albright
β
The strongest people find the courage and caring to help others, even if they are going through their own storm.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Dare to Be
When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.
When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.
When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.
When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.
When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.
When youβre feeling tired, dare to keep going.
When times are tough, dare to be tougher.
When love hurts you, dare to love again.
When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.
When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.
When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.
When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.
When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.
When the day has ended, dare to feel as youβve done your best.
Dare to be the best you can β
At all times, Dare to be!
β
β
Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
β
When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.
β
β
Maya Angelou
β
If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.
β
β
Dalai Lama XIV
β
It [feminism] is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.
β
β
G.K. Chesterton
β
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.
β
β
Sam Levenson
β
Always have a willing hand to help someone, you might be the only one that does.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
β
β
Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich)
β
Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought.
β
β
Kathryn Stockett (The Help)
β
The best relationships in our lives are the best not because they have been the happiest ones, they are that way because they have stayed strong through the most tormentful of storms.
β
β
Pandora Poikilos (Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out)
β
What would you do if you weren't afraid?
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
Done is better than perfect.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
Anything thatβs human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.
β
β
Fred Rogers
β
Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential.
β
β
Jessamyn West
β
Bottom line is, even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.
β
β
Joss Whedon
β
Love is the Answer, God is the Cure!
β
β
Aimee Cabo Nikolov (Love is the Answer God is the Cure)
β
Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.
β
β
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
β
Challenge and adversity are meant to help you know who you are. Storms hit your weakness, but unlock your true strength.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Pointing to another world will never stop vice among us; shedding light over this world can alone help us.
β
β
Walt Whitman
β
It doesn't matter how many people you meet in your life; you just need the real ones who accept you for who you are and help you become who you should be.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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
Enthusiasm can help you find the new doors, but it takes passion to open them. If you have a strong purpose in life, you don't have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Life is essentially an endless series of problems. The solution to one problem is merely the creation of another.
β
β
Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life)
β
First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.
β
β
Octavia E. Butler (Bloodchild and Other Stories)
β
Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.
β
β
Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
Shine your light and make a positive impact on the world; there is nothing so honorable as helping improve the lives of others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
Friends.
They arenβt any such thing as good friend or bad friend.
Maybe there are just friend.
People who stand by you when you're hurt and who helped you feel not so lonely.
Maybe there are worth being scared for and hoping for and living for.
Maybe worth dying for too.
If that what has to be.
No bad friends.
Only people you want.
Need to be with.
People who build their houses in your heart.
β
β
Stephen King
β
Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves.
β
β
Horace Mann
β
I don't want to live in the kind of world where we don't look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I cant change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.
β
β
Charles de Lint
β
Give up to grace. The ocean takes care of each wave 'til it gets to shore. You need more help than you know.
β
β
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi (Words of Paradise: Selected Poems of Rumi)
β
It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of thatβwarm things, kind things, sweet thingsβhelp and comfort and laughterβand sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
β
β
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
β
Whenever I am in a difficult situation where there seems to be no way out, I think about all the times I have been in such situations and say to myself, "I did it before, so I can do it again.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
Beauty is not who you are on the outside, it is the wisdom and time you gave away to save another struggling soul like you.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, 'aw shit, he's up!
β
β
Steve Maraboli (Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience)
β
Hide yourself in God, so when a man wants to find you he will have to go there first.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work β the most you will make is 5 dollars.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
Good works is giving to the poor and the helpless, but divine works is showing them their worth to the One who matters.
β
β
Criss Jami (Killosophy)
β
If youβre in the luckiest one per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.
β
β
Warren Buffett
β
Jamie: You know what I figured out today?
Landon: What?
Jamie: Maybe God has a bigger plan for me than I had for myself. Like this journey never ends. Like you were sent to me because I'm sick. To help me through all this. You're my angel.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)
β
Was it you or I who stumbled first? It does not matter. The one of us who finds the strength to get up first, must help the other.
β
β
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
β
Great Leaders Create More Leaders
Good leaders have vision and inspire others to help them turn vision into reality. Great leaders create more leaders, not followers. Great leaders have vision, share vision, and inspire others to create their own.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
May I share with you a formula that in my judgment will help you and help me to journey well through mortality... First, fill your mind with truth; second, fill your life with service; and third, fill your heart with love.
β
β
Thomas S. Monson
β
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.
β
β
William James (The Will to Believe : and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy)
β
Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.
β
β
William Arthur Ward
β
you don't have to worry about burning bridges, if you're building your own
β
β
Kerry E. Wagner
β
What helps you persevere is your resilience and commitment.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
A broken friendship that is mended through forgiveness can be even stronger than it once was.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Forgiveness and Love Conquers All: Healing the Emotional Self (Inspiration Mini-Series))
β
A fine glass vase goes from treasure to trash, the moment it is broken. Fortunately, something else happens to you and me. Pick up your pieces. Then, help me gather mine.
β
β
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
β
Somewhere along the way we all go a bit mad. So burn, let go and dive into the horror, because maybe itβs the chaos which helps us find where we belong.
β
β
Robert M. Drake
β
We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
Your inner strength is your outer foundation
β
β
Allan Rufus
β
Things are sometimes faded but they will always become clear, where there seems nothing but bad look closer, youβre sure to find good.
β
β
Sherman Kennon (Whisk Of Dust: Too Unseen Distance)
β
Give your weakness to one who helps.
β
β
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
β
Rule your mind or it will rule you.
β
β
Horatius
β
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
β
β
Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
Whenever you are going through lifeβs challenges, remember that for iron to be cast into its desired form, it must first go through intense heat.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (All You Need Is a Ball: What Soccer Teaches Us about Success in Life and Business)
β
We need to help people to discover the true meaning of love. Love is generally confused with dependence. Those of us who have grown in true love know that we can love only in proportion to our capacity for independence.
β
β
Fred Rogers (The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember)
β
Right now, we're living in an ugly chapter of our lives, but books always get better!
β
β
Chris Colfer (The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1))
β
Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something while you live and it is in your power.
β
β
Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)
β
even
in the loneliest moments
i have been there
for myself.
β
β
Sanober Khan
β
You tried to help the people of the market. You mostly failed. This is life. The longer you live, the more you fail. Failure is the mark of a life well lived. In turn, the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone. Trust me, I've practiced
β
β
Brandon Sanderson (Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3))
β
The most intriguing people you will encounter in this life are the people who had insights about you, that you didn't know about yourself.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
You just have to say to yourself, "I am not willing to accept anything less than what I deserve! I am smart! I am Beautiful! I am a good woman and I deserve to be happy!" It all starts with you.
β
β
Amari Soul (Reflections of a Man)
β
Fortune does favor the bold and you'll never know what you're capable of if you don't try.
β
β
Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
β
Give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned.
β
β
Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
β
The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. work is the key to success, and hard work can help you accomplish anything.
β
β
Vince Lombardi
β
... what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.
β
β
Norton Juster (The Phantom Tollbooth)
β
Is there any real purpose in being alive if all we are going to do is get up every day and live only for ourselves?
Live your life to help others. Give & live selflessly.
β
β
Joyce Meyer
β
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.
β
β
Haim G. Ginott (Teacher and Child: A Book for Parents and Teachers)
β
There is no need to search; achievement leads to nowhere. It makes no difference at all, so just be happy now! Love is the only reality of the world, because it is all One, you see. And the only laws are paradox, humor and change. There is no problem, never was, and never will be. Release your struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the world. No need to resist life, just do your best. Open your eyes and see that you are far more than you imagine. You are the world, you are the universe; you are yourself and everyone else, too! It's all the marvelous Play of God. Wake up, regain your humor. Don't worry, just be happy. You are already free!
β
β
Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives)
β
How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.
So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloudshadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any miseries, or any depressions? For after all, you do not know what work these conditions are doing inside you.
β
β
Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)
β
Some people try to tell you the things you want in life are out of your grasp, while others lift you up on their shoulders and help you reach them. I may not know a lot, but I prefer to fill my life with people who let me climb on top of their shoulders, not people who try to keep me planted on the ground.
β
β
Katie Kacvinsky (Awaken (Awaken, #1))
β
Help" is a prayer that is always answered. It doesn't matter how you pray--with your head bowed in silence, or crying out in grief, or dancing. Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors. Years ago I wrote an essay that began, "Some people think that God is in the details, but I have come to believe that God is in the bathroom.
β
β
Anne Lamott (Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith)
β
To be kind, honest and have positive thoughts; to forgive those who harm us and treat everyone as a friend; to help those who are suffering and never to consider ourselves superior to anyone else: even if this advice seems rather simplistic, make the effort of seeing whether by following it you can find greater happiness.
β
β
Dalai Lama XIV
β
The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.
β
β
Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild)
β
Today is a new day and it brings with it a new set of opportunities for me to act on.
I am attentive to the opportunities and I seize them as they arise.
I have full confidence in myself and my abilities.
I can do all things that I commit myself to.
No obstacle is too big or too difficult for me to handle because what lies inside me is greater than what lies ahead of me.
I am committed to improving myself and I am getting better daily.
I am not held back by regret or mistakes from the past.
I am moving forward daily.
Absolutely nothing is impossible for me.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
β
β
C.S. Lewis (The Weight of Glory)
β
I believe that what we get out of life is what we've set ourselves up to get, so there's no such thing as an inconsequential decision. Our destinies are the culmination of all the choices we've made along the way, which is why it's imperative to listen hard to your inner voice when it speaks up.
Don't let anyone else's noise drown it out.
β
β
Megan McCafferty (Second Helpings (Jessica Darling, #2))
β
Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, βWhat do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.β Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.
β
β
Vincent van Gogh
β
People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things. You don't necessarily even have to be afraid of punishment after death; purgatory, hell, and heaven are things that a lot of people can't accept, but still a religion, it doesn't matter which, keeps a person on the right path. It isn't the fear of God but the upholding of one's own honor and conscience. How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the while day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that: "A quiet conscience mades one strong!
β
β
Anne Frank (The Diary of a Young Girl)
β
I agree with yours of the 22d that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. but we cannot always do what is absolutely best. those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. truth advances, & error recedes step by step only; and to do to our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step.
[Comment on establishing Jefferson's University of Virginia, a secular college, in a letter to Thomas Cooper 7 October 1814]
β
β
Thomas Jefferson (Letters of Thomas Jefferson)
β
A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see.
β
β
John Grogan
β
This is your life. Do what you want and do it often.
If you don't like something, change it.
If you don't like your job, quit.
If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV.
If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.
Stop over-analysing, life is simple.
All emotions are beautiful.
When you eat, appreciate every last bite.
Life is simple.
Open your heart, mind and arms to new things and people, we are united in our differences.
Ask the next person you see what their passion is and share your inspiring dream with them.
Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
Some opportunities only come once, seize them.
Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.
Life is short, live your dream and wear your passion.
β
β
Holstee Manifesto (The Wedding Day)
β
The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.
Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An
important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative
thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will
change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you
to stay where they are. Friends that don't help you climb will want you to
crawl. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that
don't increase you will eventually decrease you.
Consider this:
Never receive counsel from unproductive people. Never discuss your problems
with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who
never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how. Not everyone has
a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the
bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person. Don't follow anyone
who's not going anywhere.
With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. Be careful
where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life. Wise is the
person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. If you run with
wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you
will learn how to soar to great heights.
"A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the
kind of friends he chooses."
The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you
closely associate - for the good and the bad.
Note: Be not mistaken. This is applicable to family as well as friends.
Yes...do love, appreciate and be thankful for your family, for they will
always be your family no matter what. Just know that they are human first
and though they are family to you, they may be a friend to someone else and
will fit somewhere in the criteria above.
"In Prosperity Our Friends Know Us. In Adversity We Know Our friends."
"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them."
"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things,you develop the habit in little matters.
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.."..
β
β
Colin Powell
β
I'd heard of Evergreen Care Center before. Cass and I had always made fun of the stupid ads they ran on TV, featuring some dragged-out woman with a limp perm and big, painted-on circles under her eyes, downing vodka and sobbing uncontrollably. "We can't heal you at Evergreen", the very somber voiceover said. "But we can help you to heal yourself." It had become our own running joke, applicable to almost anything.
"Hey Cass, "I'd say, "hand me that toothpaste."
"Caitlin," she'd say, her voice dark and serious. "I can't hand you the toothpaste. But I CAN help you hand the toothpaste to yourself.
β
β
Sarah Dessen (Dreamland)
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I'll let you in on a secret, honey. The knight who has serious chinks in his armor but never falls is the true hero. That means he's won battles and doesn't waste time polishing his armor so he can look good while he rides in parades that are tributes to his glory. He just drags himself back on his steed and keeps right on battling. And if he's the right kind of knight, he never rides alone. The best heroes inspire loyalty. The best heroes keep fighting the good fight, tirelessly, quietly. The best heroes always have scars. If they didn't, the heroine would have nothing to do. It's her job to help the hero let all that stuff go in order that her man can be strong enough to fight on but when he's with her he's free to just 'breathe'.
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Kristen Ashley (Breathe (Colorado Mountain, #4))
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Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing. The only worthwhile miracle in the New Testamentβthe transmutation of water into wine during the wedding at Canaβis a tribute to the persistence of Hellenism in an otherwise austere Judaea. The same applies to the seder at Passover, which is obviously modeled on the Platonic symposium: questions are asked (especially of the young) while wine is circulated. No better form of sodality has ever been devised: at Oxford one was positively expected to take wine during tutorials. The tongue must be untied. It's not a coincidence that Omar Khayyam, rebuking and ridiculing the stone-faced Iranian mullahs of his time, pointed to the value of the grape as a mockery of their joyless and sterile regime. Visiting today's Iran, I was delighted to find that citizens made a point of defying the clerical ban on booze, keeping it in their homes for visitors even if they didn't particularly take to it themselves, and bootlegging it with great brio and ingenuity. These small revolutions affirm the human.
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Christopher Hitchens (Hitch 22: A Memoir)
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My main goal is to stay alive. To keep fooling myself into hanging around. To keep getting up every day. Right now I live without inspiration. I go day to day and do the work because it's all I know. I know that if I keep moving I stand a chance. I must keep myself going until I find a reason to live. I need one so bad. On the other hand maybe I don't. Maybe it's all bullshit. Nothing I knew from my old life can help me here. Most of the things that I believed turned out to be useless. Appendages from someone else's life.
Everything I have I would give to not know what I know. To not feel emptiness as my constant companion. To not look into this room and be reminded why I'm in it. I'm not getting enough air. The room feels so small all of a sudden. It's pathetic to be this lonely and know it. To keep breathing. To be silent and alone. And to know.
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Henry Rollins (Roomanitarian)