My Next Breath: A Memoir

by Jeremy Renner

Otherwise, nothing’s going to change, nothing’s going to get better for you or for the people around you. In the end, it doesn’t actually matter what you think or how you feel … everyone is a mass of feelings and emotions—some good, some bad. But emotions never built a bridge or fed the hungry or saved a life. I mean, who cares how you feel? Do something.

Complacency is death; it is the opposite of life; it is what keeps us stuck in situations that make us unhappy.

Love slowly, quietly, and patiently waits for hate to simply burn out. It requires so much more energy to hate than to love, and love has all the time in the world.

hate won’t outlive anyone—only love can do that.

Love: That’s what lasts. That’s what wins. Always.

That’s true of all of us—we all need to be connected to our own sense of accountability and responsibility.

The essence of accountability and responsibility is this: If you do the work, it pays off—so just do the work.

We have to be at all times purposeful with the things we do in our lives; otherwise nothing has value.