Greenlights

by Matthew McConaughey

I never wrote things down to remember; I always wrote things down so I could forget.

I have a lot of proof that the world is conspiring to make me happy.

I did not need reassurance, and the clarity gave me identity.

Life’s hard. Shit happens to us. We make shit happen. To me, it was inevitable that I was staying the entire year because I’d shaken on it.

I just didn’t give the crisis credit.

Good looks don’t cook the dinner, but they’ll get you a seat at the table, and I was determined to take advantage of any seat I could get.

The sooner we become less impressed with our life, our accomplishments, our career, our relationships, the prospects in front of us—the sooner we become less impressed and more involved with these things—the sooner we get better at them. We must be more than just happy to be here.

How do we know when we cross a truth or a truth crosses us?

They are not trying to win arguments of right or wrong. They are trying to understand each other. That’s different.

“Change,” she said.

today I made love to my woman. Not because I wanted to right then, but because I knew I’d want to once we started. And that the walk on the beach we took afterward would be more romantic. The cocktail I made at 5:45 would taste better. The shrimp I seasoned would have more savor. The All-Star game we watched at 7 would be more exciting. The music we danced to till midnight would have more rhythm.

And the conversation about life we had together sitting across the kitchen table from each other until 3 in the morning would be more inspiring… And it was. For months we covered

what I most revered in life, what I was most impressed with, was now what I was about to become more involved with.

Good from afar, but far from good.

THIS

They’re better up close, with more frequency, with more intimacy. Sometimes we need

It’s making love. It’s attachment. It’s togetherness. It’s private. It costs us. It hurts. We own it.

Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate. Alright, alright, alright.

newborns—the end of a life, trying to keep a life, and welcoming in a new one—these

“What matters?” Three things that make you realize, “It all does.”

that it’s not all for nothing, it’s all for everything

As well, when we only see our lover as a superhuman, our reflection in their eyes makes us one to them in theirs. Then we’re both for rent, because we’re both unobtainable.

we don’t lose half of ourselves, we become more of ourselves.

also learned that if the message is true,

don’t forget it, and forgive the messenger, even if he does.

I value culture

I also believe in the value of doing something well.