β
Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Life is too short to waste your time on people who donβt respect, appreciate, and value you.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Live the Life of Your Dreams: Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
You cannot control the behavior of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.
β
β
Albert Schweitzer
β
Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Keep Going
Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Make improvements, not excuses. Seek respect, not attention.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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
People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.
A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.
A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master...
β
β
Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)
β
Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Treat everyone with politeness and kindness, not because they are nice, but because you are.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals.
If you arenβt grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Believe in Your Heart
Believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Follow your heart, listen to your inner voice, stop caring about what others think.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
No amount of regretting can change the past, and no amount of worrying can change the future.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Top 15 Things Money Canβt Buy
Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Acts of Kindness:
A random act of kindness, no matter how small, can make a tremendous impact on someone else's life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.
β
β
Plato
β
Be brave to stand for what you believe in even if you stand alone.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who donβt respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who make you smile, laugh, and feel loved.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Great things happen to those who don't stop believing, trying, learning, and being grateful.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Always find opportunities to make someone smile, and to offer random acts of kindness in everyday life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Time doesnβt heal emotional pain, you need to learn how to let go.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
To shine your brightest light is to be who you truly are.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
Sometimes you have to lose all you have to find out who you truly are.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Don't Just
Don't just learn, experience.
Don't just read, absorb.
Don't just change, transform.
Don't just relate, advocate.
Don't just promise, prove.
Don't just criticize, encourage.
Don't just think, ponder.
Don't just take, give.
Don't just see, feel.
Donβt just dream, do.
Don't just hear, listen.
Don't just talk, act.
Don't just tell, show.
Don't just exist, live.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Do not let the memories of your past limit the potential of your future. There are no limits to what you can achieve on your journey through life, except in your mind.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Stop comparing yourself to other people, just choose to be happy and live your own life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
You are not rich until you have a rich heart.
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β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
If people refuse to look at you in a new light and they can only see you for what you were, only see you for the mistakes you've made, if they don't realize that you are not your mistakes, then they have to go.
β
β
Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
β
Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,
"You owe me."
Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.
β
β
null
β
Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Help others without any reason and give without the expectation of receiving anything in return.
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β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.
β
β
F. Scott Fitzgerald
β
Every life has death and every light has shadow. Be content to stand in the light and let the shadow fall where it will.
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β
Mary Stewart (The Hollow Hills (Arthurian Saga, #2))
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Itβs your life; you donβt need someoneβs permission to live the life you want. Be brave to live from your heart.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
The more you feed your mind with positive thoughts, the more you can attract great things into your life.
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β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Be Brave and Take Risks: You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don't have to have it all figured out to move forward.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Happiness depends on your mindset and attitude.
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β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Do Not Lie to Yourself
We have to be honest about what we want and take risks rather than lie to ourselves and make excuses to stay in our comfort zone.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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Do what you love, love what you do, and with all your heart give yourself to it.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Surround Yourself with People Who Believe in Your Dreams:
Surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams, encourage your ideas, support your ambitions, and bring out the best in you.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
The outer world is a reflection of the inner world. Other peopleβs perception of you is a reflection of them; your response to them is an awareness of you.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
If you believe very strongly in something, stand up and fight for it.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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
Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Focus on your character, not your reputation.
Focus on your blessings, not your misfortunes.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we donβt listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we donβt listen with the intent to reply. We listen for whatβs behind the words.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses, and start making changes.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
What's done is done. What's gone is gone. One of life's lessons is always moving on. Itβs okay to look back to see how far youβve come but keep moving forward.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Strong people have a strong sense of self-worth and self-awareness; they donβt need the approval of others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Smile more. Smiling can make you and others happy.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Never stop dreaming,
never stop believing,
never give up,
never stop trying, and
never stop learning.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
It's never too late to change your life for the better. You don't have to take huge steps to change your life. Making even the smallest changes to your daily routine can make a big difference to your life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
When the going gets tough, put one foot in front of the other and just keep going. Donβt give up.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Count your blessings, not your problems. Count your own blessings, not someone else's. Remember that jealousy is when you count someone else's blessings instead of your own.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Stop giving other people the power to control your happiness, your mind, and your life. If you don't take control of yourself and your own life, someone else is bound to try.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. ...And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldnβt see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason, for anything.
β
β
Stephenie Meyer (New Moon (The Twilight Saga, #2))
β
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
β
β
Elisabeth KΓΌbler-Ross
β
A smile puts you on the right track. A smile makes the world a beautiful place. When you lose your smile, you lose your way in the chaos of life.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Everyone you meet is a part of your journey, but not all of them are meant to stay in your life. Some people are just passing through to bring you gifts; either they're blessings or lessons.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
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
All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.
β
β
Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)
β
But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?
β
β
Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See)
β
Experience life in all possible ways --
good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark-light,
summer-winter. Experience all the dualities.
Don't be afraid of experience, because
the more experience you have, the more
mature you become.
β
β
Osho
β
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
β
β
William Shakespeare (Macbeth)
β
The biggest wall you have to climb is the one you build in your mind: Never let your mind talk you out of your dreams, trick you into giving up. Never let your mind become the greatest obstacle to success. To get your mind on the right track, the rest will follow.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.
β
β
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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
Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud...
β
β
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
β
Patience Is Not the Ability to Wait:
Patience is not the ability to wait. Patience is to be calm no matter what happens, constantly take action to turn it to positive growth opportunities, and have faith to believe that it will all work out in the end while you are waiting.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.
β
β
Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita)
β
I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.
β
β
Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
β
You can be the most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when they look at you, but if you yourself don't know it, all of that doesn't even matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that you use to criticize yourself; is a second of your life wasted, is a moment of your life thrown away. It's not like you have forever, so don't waste any of your seconds, don't throw even one of your moments away.
β
β
C. JoyBell C.
β
I can believe things that are true and things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not.
I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen - I believe that people are perfectable, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkled lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women.
I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state.
I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste.
I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like martians in War of the Worlds.
I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman.
I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself.
I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.
I believe that anyone who says sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too.
I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system.
I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.
β
β
Neil Gaiman (American Gods (American Gods, #1))
β
The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body.The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?
β
β
Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)
β
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
β
β
Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space)
β
It happens like this.
"One day you meet someone and for some inexplicable reason, you feel more connected to this stranger than anyone else--closer to them than your closest family. Perhaps this person carries within them an angel--one sent to you for some higher purpose; to teach you an important lesson or to keep you safe during a perilous time. What you must do is trust in them--even if they come hand in hand with pain or suffering--the reason for their presence will become clear in due time."
Though here is a word of warning--you may grow to love this person but remember they are not yours to keep. Their purpose isn't to save you but to show you how to save yourself. And once this is fulfilled; the halo lifts and the angel leaves their body as the person exits your life. They will be a stranger to you once more.
-------------------------------------------------
It's so dark right now, I can't see any light around me.
That's because the light is coming from you. You can't see it but everyone else can.
β
β
Lang Leav (Love & Misadventure)
β
I am the most tired woman in the world. I am tired when I get up. Life requires an effort I cannot make. Please give me that heavy book. I need to put something heavy like that on top of my head. I have to place my feet under the pillows always, so as to be able to stay on earth. Otherwise I feel myself going away, going away at a tremendous speed, on account of my lightness. I know that I am dead. As soon as I utter a phrase my sincerity dies, becomes a lie whose coldness chills me. Don't say anything, because I see that you understand me, and I am afraid of your understanding. I have such a fear of finding another like myself, and such a desire to find one! I am so utterly lonely, but I also have such a fear that my isolation be broken through, and I no longer be the head and ruler of my universe. I am in great terror of your understanding by which you penetrate into my world; and then I stand revealed and I have to share my kingdom with you.
β
β
AnaΓ―s Nin
β
If You Forget Me
I want you to know
one thing.
You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.
If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.
But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.
β
β
Pablo Neruda
β
Loneliness is a strange sort of thing.
It creeps on you, quiet and still, sits by your side in the dark, strokes by your hair as you sleep. It wraps itself around your bones, squeezing so tight you almost can't breathe. It leaves lies in your heart, lies next to you at night, leaches the light out of every corner. It's a constant companion, clasping your hand only to yank you down when you're struggling to stand up.
You wake up in the morning and wonder who you are. You fail to fall asleep at night and tremble in your skin. You doubt you doubt you doubt.
do I
don't I
should I
why won't I
And even when you're ready to let go. When you're ready to break free. When you're ready to be brand-new. Loneliness is an old friend stand beside you in the mirror, looking you in the eye, challenging you to live your life without it. You can't find the words to fight yourself, to fight the words screaming that you're not enough never enough never ever enough.
Loneliness is a bitter, wretched companion.
Sometimes it just won't let go.
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Tahereh Mafi (Unravel Me (Shatter Me, #2))
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Roads Go Ever On
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star.
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen,
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hills they long have known.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone.
Let others follow, if they can!
Let them a journey new begin.
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
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J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings (Middle Earth, #2-4))
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I believe everything happens for a reason. Whether it is decided by the Mother, or the Cauldron, or some sort of tapestry of Fate, I don't know. I don't really care. But I am grateful for it, whatever it is. Grateful that it brought you all into my life. If it hadn't... I might have become as awful as that prick we're going to face today. If I had not met an Illyrian warrior-in-training," he said to Cassian, "I would not have known the true depths of strength, of resilience, of honor and loyalty." Cassian's eyes gleamed bright. Rhys said to Azriel, "If I had not met a shadowsinger, I would not have known that it is the family you make, not the one you are born into, that matters. I would not have known what it is to truly hope, even when the world tells you to despair." Azriel bowed his head in thanks.
Mor was already crying when Rhys spoke to her. "If I had not met my cousin, I would neer have learned that light can be found in even the darkest of hells. That kidness can thrive even amongst cruelty." She wiped away her teas as she nodded.
I waited for Amren to offer a retort. But she was only waiting.
Rhys bowed his head to her. "If I had not met a tiny monster who hoards jewels more fiercely than a firedrake..." A quite laugh from all of us at that. Rhys smiled softly. "My own power would have consumed me long ago."
Rhys squeezed my hand as he looked to me at last. "And if I had not met my mate..." His words failed him as silver lined his eyes.
He said down the bond, I would have waited five hundred more years for you. A thousand years. And if this was all the time we were allowed to have... The wait was worth it.
He wiped away the tears sliding down my face. "I believe that everything happened, exactly the way it had to... so I could find you." He kissed another tear away.
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Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3))
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I'd like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. But I fear that you will ignore my advice. You think that I am stubborn, but you are even more stubborn than me. You had a wonderful chance on your drive back to see one of the greatest sights on earth, the Grand Canyon, something every American should see at least once in his life. But for some reason incomprehensible to me you wanted nothing but to bolt for home as quickly as possible, right back to the same situation which you see day after day after day. I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover.
Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.
My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.
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Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild)