There is something so magical about the way words are strung together. I find it crazy and so amazing how ordinary words – words like “you,” “I,” “us,” or “love” – can be combined together to form heart-racing prose and beautiful literature. Ordinary words, when put together in a certain way and form, can make us feel things. They can make us cry, they can make us smile, or they can make us laugh until we’re shaking.
I’ve always been a huge reader. Growing up, I devoured everything from poetry books to novels to non-fiction books. Over time, I have gotten into the habit of collecting some of my favourite quotes from everything that I’ve read and from some of my favourite authors. I write them into the Notes app on my phone and I keep them all together. For some of my favourites, I’ll write them down into a notebook. Sometimes, when I’m bored, I’ll just read through all of them. Some just sound good when read aloud, others remind me of the time that I first read it.
I wanted to share some of them with all of you. These are quotes that have resonated with me personally at the point in time that I was reading them, or they’re quotes that I’ve found to be inspirational, emotional or memorable. Some are a few sentences long, others are fragments of a sentence — but each is unique in my opinion. Each quote is a memory, a feeling, or a thought that has been frozen in time. Words can be so powerful because as soon as you write them down and put them out there, they stay there, and they get passed down. I see them almost like a time capsule.
So, here they are:
- “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but if every single one had to happen to make sure I was right here, right now, to meet you, then I forgive myself for them all.” –K. Towne Jr.
- “The woman you’re becoming will cost you people, relationships, spaces, and material things. Choose her over everything.” (This is one of my personal favourites)
- “At the end of every day, I find comfort in knowing that I’ve only lost the people who never deserved to stay.”
- “You deserve the world and I hope it doesn’t take you a lifetime to realize that.” –R.M. Drake
- “… a heartbreak you won’t let go of because it hurts too good.”
- “If someone loves you they will drink the ocean to make sure you do not drown.” –R.M. Drake
- “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” –Mary Oliver (From the poem “A Summer’s Day”)
- “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” –Joseph Campbell
- “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain
- “What is it that endures when everything else is changed? It is love.” –Kierkegaard
- “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” –Hemingway
- “Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” –Rumi
- “The stars shudder in their constellation.”
- “You are enough. You are so enough. iI’s unbelievable how enough you are.”
- “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.” –Lao Tzu
Going forward, I hope that you come across words, phrases, or quotes that excite your spirit and really speak to you. Write them down. Remember them. Turn to them when you need them most, because they will be there for you.