“I told everyone I was fine, when in fact I needed the privacy to fall apart.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 270)
“I tell my kids, what is the difference between a hero and a coward? What is the difference between being [cowardly] and being brave? No difference. Only what you do. They both feel the same. They both fear dying and getting hurt. The man who is [cowardly] refuses to face up to what he’s got to face. The hero is more disciplined and he fights those feelings off and he does what he has to do. But they both feel the same, the hero and the coward. People who watch you judge you on what you do, not how you feel.”
Cus D’amato, Bad Intentions
“To quell my own fears, I needed space from theirs.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 252)
“Odd things happen when you’re on a road trip alone. The monotony of driving becomes meditative: The mind unwrinkles. As the usual anxieties and concerns vacate, daydreams flit in. Occasionally, a wisp of an idea appears out of nowhere only to recede, a shimmery mirage in a desert. Other times, an avalanche of memories tumbles forth, loosened by an old song on the radio or a deja vu—inducing landscape. The interplay between geography and memory becomes a conversation. They spark and spur each other.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 244)
“Recovery isn’t a gentle self-care spree that restores you to a pre-illness state. Though the word may suggest otherwise, recovery is not about salvaging the old at all. It’s about accepting that you must forsake a familiar self forever, in favor of one that is being newly born. It is an act of brute, terrifying discovery.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 234)
“Loss is one of our deepest fears. Ignorance and pretending don’t make things any better. They just mean the loss will be all the more jarring when it occurs.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 349)
“Devastation—that feeling that we’re absolutely crushed and shocked by an event—is a factor of how unlikely we considered that event in the first place. No one is wrecked by the fact that it’s snowing in the winter, because we’ve accepted (and even anticipated) this turn of events. What about the occurrences that surprise us? We might not be so shocked if we took the time to consider their possibility.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 347)
“Perhaps today will be the day when we experience happiness or wisdom. Don’t try to grab that moment and hold on to it with all your might. It’s not under your control how long it lasts. Enjoy it, recognize it, remember it. Having it for a moment is the same as having it forever.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 346)
“Not every problem needs to be overcome, just the ones stopping you from getting where you want to be.”
Ann Hill, Twitter
“’How much could I lose?’ is not merely a financial question. If I make this choice: How much time could I lose? How much sanity could I lose? How much reputation could I lose? How much happiness could I lose? Opportunity cost is about a lot more than money.”
James Clear, Blog
“The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and the vile can be transformed, and (c) doing that makes it that. We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.”
Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker, via Sunbeams (Page 144)
“Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.”
Hannah Arendt, via Sunbeams (Page 144)
“The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence. The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness.”
John Amodeo, via Sunbeams (Page 144)
“They say that in difficult times you find out who your friends are, but mostly I found out whom I wanted to befriend. Some people I thought I could count on disappeared, while others I barely knew did more than I ever expected.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 224)
“When life brings you to the floor, there is a choice: You can allow the worst thing that’s ever happened to you to hijack your remaining days, or you can claw your way back into motion.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 224)
“It took me a while to say I was a cancer patient. Then, for a long time, I was only that. It’s time for me to figure out who I am now.”
Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms (Page 221)
“Life is in a constant state of change. And so are we. To get upset by things is to wrongly assume that they will last. To kick ourselves or blame others is grabbing at the wind. To resent change is to wrongly assume that you have a choice in the matter. Everything is change. Embrace that. Flow with it.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 340)
“Every great opportunity has many reasons why it could fail. You have to trust your ability to solve problems along the way. People who look for reasons why things won’t work, struggle to take action. People who look for reasons why things will work—and solve problems as they arise—make things happen.”
James Clear, Blog