Barbara > Barbara's Quotes

“One of the liabilities of being a deep thinker, Wyatt mused, was that it left him vulnerable to existential crises.”
― Bridie Clark

“Darling, when things go wrong in life, you lift your chin, put on a ravishing smile, mix yourself a little cocktail...”
― Sophie Kinsella

“How wrong to have been so negative, how wrong to have been so gloomy, how wrong to have run away from life, how wrong to have said no, again and again, instead of yes.”
― Jonathan Franzen

“You may be poor, but the one thing nobody can take away from you is the freedom to fuck up your life whatever way you want to.”
― Jonathan Franzen, Freedom

“But the first lesson reading teaches is how to be alone.”
― Jonathan Franzen, How to Be Alone

“You're either reading a book or you're not.”
― Jonathan Franzen

“but for my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.”
― Jane Austen

“List 1: Write down everything you could possibly want in your life that could bring you fulfillment and a sense of security. Imagine it, having total peace of mind. Imagine how incredible that would feel! You could stop worrying, stop feeling lost, and stop feeling lonely. You’d have total clarity, great relationships, a sense of meaning and purpose, and a solid place in your community. List those things that would put you in that space.”
― Yehuda Berg, Living Kabbalah: A Practical System for Making the Power Work for You

“Hurt people hurt people. That’s how pain patterns gets passed on, generation after generation after generation. Break the chain today. Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion, cruelty with kindness. Greet grimaces with smiles. Forgive and forget about finding fault. Love is the weapon of the future.”
― Yehuda Berg

“If you're looking for sympathy you'll find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.”
― David Sedaris, Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays

“Everyone looks retarded once you set your mind to it.”
― David Sedaris

“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
― Jane Austen, Jane Austen's Letters

“The enemy is the necessary condition for practicing patience.”
― His Holiness The Dalai Lama

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes...you're Doing Something.”
― Neil Gaiman

“To stand up for someone was to stitch your fate into the lining of theirs.”
― Tom Rob Smith, Child 44

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”
― OMAR KHAYYAM, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

“Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it's a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it's a way of making contact with someone else's imagination after a day that's all too real.”
― Nora Ephron

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
― Alexander Pope

“I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears.”
― Shelby Foote

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt