ash > ash's Quotes

“You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

“We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

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

“Your potential, the absolute best you’re capable of—that’s the metric to measure yourself against. Your standards are. Winning is not enough. People can get lucky and win. People can be assholes and win. Anyone can win. But not everyone is the best possible version of themselves.”
― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

“Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive.”
― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

“ego is the enemy of what you want and of what you have: Of mastering a craft. Of real creative insight. Of working well with others. Of building loyalty and support. Of longevity. Of repeating and retaining your success. It repulses advantages and opportunities. It’s a magnet for enemies and errors. It is Scylla and Charybdis.”
― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

“Work is finding yourself alone at the track when the weather kept everyone else indoors. Work is pushing through the pain and crappy first drafts and prototypes. It is ignoring whatever plaudits others are getting, and more importantly, ignoring whatever plaudits you may be getting. Because there is work to be done. Work doesn’t want to be good. It is made so, despite the headwind.”
― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

“One might say that the ability to evaluate one’s own ability is the most important skill of all. Without it, improvement is impossible. And certainly ego makes it difficult every step of the way. It is certainly more pleasurable to focus on our talents and strengths, but where does that get us? Arrogance and self-absorption inhibit growth. So does fantasy and “vision.”
― Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

“I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

“There's always something to occupy the inquiring mind.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

“Ultimately, counselling is an act of hope. It’s the hope that something might get better, and for that to happen, it requires something to change.”
― Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day

“Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience, and transform despair into hope.”
― Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone

“We can’t have change without loss, which is why so often people say they want change but nonetheless stay exactly the same.”
― Lori Gottlieb, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

“My favourite photos of my mum and dad are those from before I was born. Because they were so into each other and I can see this love in her eyes that says, I trust this guy to fucking bits.”
― Melina Marchetta, The Place on Dalhousie

“I was in my thirties before I learnt that I too would prefer not to see what I could no longer have”
― Tim Winton, Breath

“It’s how I fill the time when nothing’s happening. Thinking too much, flirting with melancholy.”
― Tim Winton, Breath

“Our successes and failures come and go—they neither define us nor do they determine our worthiness.”
― Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

“What do you do not to feel sad?", I ask.
"I let myself feel sad.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“People who feel the need to say "I'm fine" are never fine, sweetheart", she says.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein

“It struck her that adult life ws endlessly harsh and exciting, something to be overwhelmed by again and again, like a wave beating her down as she tried to stand.”
― Coco Mellors, Cleopatra and Frankenstein