Quotes in category: “Life”:

Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts - it's what you do with what you have left.

We waste a lot of time running after people we could have caught by just standing still.  

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday.

A friend of mine said to me: "You have to believe that life is more than the sum of its parts, kiddo." I remember it right down to the "kiddo" part. But when I think about what she said, the same thing always comes into my head: "What if you can't put the pieces together in the first place?"

This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes. It's a universal truth. But the good part is, you get to decide how you're gonna mess it up. 

Life had gone on. It always did. That's what you learned as you got older. Time. It kept moving. You couldn't stop it. You couldn't go back to the moments you wished you could change. They were gone. They left you in a snap. 

Opportunity does not knock, then knock again, and then leave a note saying, "sorry I missed you."

We all stub our toes, we all have people who don't love us enough. There are all kinds of suffering; life is a bunch of suffering. There are a lot of other things too, of course, but we all suffer.

One day, someone showed me a glass of water that was half full.  And he said, "Is it half full or half empty?"  So I drank the water.  No more problem. 

Stars are like people. Just because they appear to emerge from the same point doesn't mean they do. This is an illusion of perspective created by distance. Not all families manage to hold it together, everyone moves in different directions. That we all emerge from the same point is a misconception, to travel in different directions is the very nature of every being and every existing thing.

You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you.

The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.

There are some things in this world you rely on, like a sure bet. And when they let you down, shifting from where you've carefully placed them, it shakes your faith, right where you stand.

There is nothing to be done. Just make sure nothing is wasted. Take notes. Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind.

Sometimes you'll find that the saddest songs bring you the most comfort. And the memories that make you cry are the happiest ones you'll ever have.

A stumble may prevent a fall. 

Pay no mind to those who talk behind your back, it simply means that you are two steps ahead. 

I used to hate this town. I used to hate every single blade of grass on every hill, but he taught me so much. He taught me that it's not the job of this town to make me feel happy. It's not its fault that I don't fit in. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, because it's about where you are in your head. It's about the other world I inhabit. The world of dreams, hope, imagination, and memories.  

All things splendid have been achieved by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.

We live and learn, and we crash and burn, and we're gone. We take what we know, and we learn as we go, and we run. 

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. 

Pick the day. Enjoy it - to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come. The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present - and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.

Have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you're still smiling. 

We're taught early on to be a good person, to be kind, to follow the rules, to say our prayers and take our vitamins. But what if we do the right thing and then bad things happen? What then? Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?

No one is free. Even the birds are chained to the sky.