Courtesy of Gretchen Rubin Moment of Happiness
She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it).
LEWIS CARROLL
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
His mother saw that he was not lonesome, and because she was an understanding mother, even though she was a cow, she let him just sit there and be happy.
MUNRO LEAF
The Story of Ferdinand
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.
CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Jane Eyre
One’s life begins on so many occasions, constructing itself out of accident derived from coincidence compounded by character.
DONALD HALL
Unpacking the Boxes
But real flowers can never be dispensed with. If they could, human life would be a different affair altogether.
VIRGINIA WOOLF
Jacob’s Room
A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.
EUDORA WELTY
One Writer’s Beginnings
From the moment I held a box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.
HENRI MATISSE WITH PIERRE COURTHION
Chatting with Matisse: The Lost 1941 Interview
When things are taking their ordinary course, it is hard to remember what matters.
MARILYNNE ROBINSON
Gilead
I would never have chosen this path, but I am very glad to be who I am, here.
AUDRE LORDE
The Cancer Journals
One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light.
JAMES BALDWIN
Nothing Personal
When one loves, one does not calculate.
ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX
Story of a Soul
You know that book; you forget the title after you’ve returned it and over the years you try to look it up a few times, but you never find it again.
HELEN OYEYEMI
Boy, Snow, Bird
Enthusiasm is a form of social courage.
The place that hurts isn’t always the place that’s injured.
We won’t make ourselves more creative and productive by copying other people’s habits, even the habits of geniuses; we must know our own nature, and what habits serve us best.
GRETCHEN RUBIN
