“Today, the sun is everywhere, and everything solid is nothing but its own shadow, I know that the real things in life, the things I remember, the things I turn over in my hands, are not houses, bank accounts, prizes or promotions. What I remember is love -- all love -- love of this dirt road, this sunrise, a day by the river, the stranger I met in a café. Myself, even, which is the hardest thing of all to love, because love and selfishness are not the same thing. It is easy to be selfish. It is hard to love who I am. No wonder I am surprised if you do.”
― Lighthousekeeping
― Lighthousekeeping
“I don't expect to be happy. I don't imagine that I will find love, whatever that means, or that if I do find it, it will make me happy. I don't think of love as the answer or the solution. I think of love as a force of nature - as strong as the sun, as necessary, as impersonal, as gigantic, as impossible, as scorching as it is warming, as drought-making as it is life-giving.”
― Lighthousekeeping
― Lighthousekeeping
“I desired always to stretch the night and fill it fuller and fuller with dreams.”
― The Waves
― The Waves
“What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Kind," said the boy.”
― The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
"Kind," said the boy.”
― The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
“How wonderful to be who I am,
made out of earth and water,
my own thoughts, my own fingerprints -
all that glorious, temporary stuff.”
― Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
made out of earth and water,
my own thoughts, my own fingerprints -
all that glorious, temporary stuff.”
― Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
Bailey’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Bailey’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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