I’ve had this domain and hosting for three years now and though it’s been on my mind constantly ever since, I never seemed to find the time to write or even worse felt that no idea was the right one for a first post, the photos were not good enough, the stars not aligned or whatever other obstacles our little minds put our way.
I always jotted down words, phrases, paragraphs, whole pages from books, the internet, magazines or even phrases people said that inspired me and last week , I stumbled upon Ann Friedman’s amazing newsletter and it was all I needed to get back to writing after a long time of blog-silence (is there a term? Autocorrector doesn’t seem to be detecting a wrong word there).
How is Ann’s newsletter related to my lifelong habit? Well, her Christmas newsletter is called Sentences I Saved this Year, so this is how it’s related to this post.
“Listen to what is being preached today. Look at everyone around us. You’ve wondered why they suffer, why they seek happiness and never find it. If any man stopped and asked himself whether he’s ever held a truly personal desire, he’d find the answer. He’d see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He’s not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the second-hander’s delusion – prestige. A stamp of approval, not his own. He can find no joy in the struggle and no joy when he has succeeded. He can’t say about a single thing: ‘This is what I wanted because I wanted it, not because it made my neighbours gape at me’. Then he wonders why he’s unhappy.” Ayn Rand – The Fountainhead
“Wherever you stand, be the Soul of that place.” – Rumi (but I heard it in the film The Breadwinner)
“[..] whoever dreamed up the colour white never had to be somebody’s laundress.”
“[…] that white people’s furniture never did nothing except breed more furniture” Sara Collins- The Confessions of Frannie Langton
“Be a poem” – on Katerina Psoma necklace
“He said to me that everyone is made out of many atomos a-atoms? You understand? So for a human being, it takes seven years before every atom, one by one, is replaced with a new one. So that means that after seven years, this person is no longer that.” Elena-Fortitude
“Live a little before you die.” Greek film Jamaica
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan
“The world won’t come to me, so I must go to it.” Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch
“You won’t like my song, but I’m going to sing it anyway.” David Shrigley
“Nobody is going to pour truth into your brain. It’s something you have to find out for yourself.” Noam Chomsky
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler
“When you see something beautiful in someone, tell them. It may take seconds to say, but for them it could last a lifetime.” Conscious Conversations
“I conclude therefore that, fortune being changeful and mankind steadfast in their ways, so long as the two are in agreement men are successful, but unsuccessful when they fall out.” Niccolò Machiavelli – The Prince
“Your bad habits can kill you, but your good habits won’t save you.” Fran Lebowitz
“When I was younger, I thought I had to be thin to have a great life. Now I enjoy every bit of it at 229 lbs at a size 16. And the best part, I never think about my size anymore. Unless I take a photo and notice my fat rolls are the cutest…
Whatever you want to do, don’t wait to change to allow yourself to do it. Do it all. At your size. Today. You’re perfectly imperfect and that’s amazing.” Clémentine Desseaux
Feel free to share your inspirational quotes or phrases in the comments area.
