The Book of Lost Friends

by Lisa Wingate

The most important endeavors require a risk.”

‘We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name.’ The first death is beyond our control, but the second one we can strive to prevent.”

No two readers read the same book, because we all see the words through different eyes, filter the story through different life experiences.”

Every revolution starts with a spark on dry tinder.

Loren Eiseley, who was the subject of one of my favorite term papers, wrote, If there is magic in this world, it is contained in water, but I have always known that if there is magic in this world, it is contained in books.

there is no faster way to change your circumstance than to open a great book.

Books made me believe that smart girls who didn’t necessarily fit in with the popular crowd could be the ones to solve mysteries, rescue people in distress, ferret out international criminals, fly spaceships to distant planets, take up arms and fight battles. Books showed me that not all fathers understand their daughters or even seek to, but that people can turn out okay despite that. Books made me feel beautiful when I wasn’t. Capable when I couldn’t be. Books built my identity.

I always assume people’s behaviors are a reaction to something I’ve done, not that they’re just doing their thing.

Life never is just about what you want. Seldom ever.

“I’m trying to impress upon my students that everyone has history. Just because we’re not always happy with what’s true doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know it. It’s how we learn. It’s how we do better in the future. Hopefully, anyway.”

Few things are more life affirming than watching an idea that was fledgling and frail in its infancy, seemingly destined for birth and death in almost the same breath, stretch its lungs and curl its fingers around the threads of life, and hang on with a determination that can’t be understood, only felt.

“We encourage vigorous debate. Civil debate is a healthy and democratic process. If one cannot make one’s point without yelling, name-calling, or insulting others, one should develop a stronger argument before speaking further.”

I ponder how we can put a man on the moon, fly shuttles back and forth to outer space, send probes to Mars, and yet we can’t traverse the boundaries in the human heart, fix what’s wrong.

You’re not defeated until you give up the fight,

Augustine has taught me that the past travels with you. It’s whether you run from it or learn from it that makes all the difference.

We all have scars. It’s when you’re honest about them that you find the people who will love you in spite of your nicks and dents. Perhaps even because of them. The people who don’t? Those people aren’t the ones for you.

Eventually you have to stop letting people define you and start defining yourself.

“The most important endeavors require a risk,”

‘We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name.’ The first death is beyond our control, but the second one we can strive to prevent.”