Toni > Toni's Quotes

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
― Mark Twain

“Having more does not keep you from wanting more. And if you always want more - to be richer, more beautiful, more well known - you are missing the bigger picture, and I can tell you from experience, happiness will never come”
― Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith: a True Story

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
― Truman Capote

“I learned that in each of us there burns a flame of independence that must never be allowed to go out. That as long as it exists within us we cannot be destroyed.”
― Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One

“And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

“We're all born with the greatest treasures we'll ever have in life. One of those treasures is your mind, another is your heart.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
― Maya Angelou

“People do amazing things for love. Books are full of wonderful stories about this kind of stuff, and stories aren’t just fantasies, you know. They’re so much a part of the people who write them that they practically teach their readers invaluable lessons about life.”
― Mahbod Seraji, Rooftops of Tehran

“Some mistakes... Just have greater consequences than others. But you don't have to let the result of one mistake be the thing that defines you. You, Clark, have the choice not to let that happen.”
― Jojo Moyes, Me Before You

“History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another’s pain in the heart our own.”
― Julius Lester

“To remain silent in the face of evil is itself a form of evil.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,' I said. 'By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“If you're good at it, and you love it, and it helps you navigate the river of the world, then it can't be wrong.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It's one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they're the four hugest words in the world when they're put together.

You can do it.

I can do it.

Let's do it.”
― Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“Not everyone has something to say. This will not stop them from saying it.”
― Leonard Pitts Jr.

“Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.”
― Patti Digh, Four-Word Self-Help: Simple Wisdom For Complex Lives

“Everything we do is political," she says. "Even the things we choose not to do.”
― Aline Ohanesian, Orhan's Inheritance

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin

“This was the truth at the core of my existence: this yawning emptiness, scantily clad in rage. It had been there all along.”
― Hillary Jordan, Mudbound

“God's job ain't to make our lives easier, it's to make us better souls by the lessons He gives us.”
― Susan Crandall, Whistling Past the Graveyard

“A body can't run from what they done. They carry it with them inside. It fester and spread like poison if it's buried. It gotta be out in the air where it can heal.”
― Susan Crandall, Whistling Past the Graveyard

“The truth is that no one can keep you captive. No one can keep you unhappy. No one can keep you abused. Our lives rise to the level we accept. I do believe we can rise from the screaming blood of our losses, of extreme pain, physically debilitating emotion, psychological neglect, and apathy, and not merely survive, but thrive. We do not need to let our histories or our losses define us except in the way we choose. We can use them as fuel to create real depth, beauty, connectedness, and compassion in our lives. Our stories can make us exceptional people, not damaged ones. If we choose to be truthful with ourselves. And if we choose to digest and release the pain rather than try to avoid it. This is how pain accumulates and creates more pain, leading to neurosis, pathology, and brittleness of spirit.”
― Jewel, Never Broken Deluxe: Songs Are Only Half the Story

“Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.”
― Alice Walker

“It's not easy to label people one illness or another. We're all different combinations of crazy.”
― Annie Hartnett, Rabbit Cake

“Rebellion even in its smallest forms can eventually birth great change. With change comes hope.”
― Catherine Adel West, Saving Ruby King