Letters to Sam Quotes

“Two waves in the ocean are talking to each other. The front wave tells the second that it's frightened because it is about to crash into the shore and cease to exist. But the second wave shows no fear. It explains to the first: "You are frightened because you think you are a wave; I am not frightened because know I am part of the ocean.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“The story of Pi is the story of all of us. We all have tigers under our tarpaulins - tigers that, we feel, could destroy us. We think we want to be rid of our tigers. But the truth is, we would feel a great loss if they ran away, because ultimately, each tiger is part of us.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Missing feels like a sad spot in my heart...Missing means I love her.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“So many of us suffer because we are trying to live the life we once had or the life we wish for. Life is much sweeter when we live the life we have”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“When we stop fighting against death, we are able to wake up to our lives.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“إني أؤمن بأن العالم ربما يكون مكاناً أكثر أماناً إذا أضاء كل من يشعربالضعف أنوار التحذير، التي تقول: "لديَّ مشكلة، وأبذل ما بوسعي”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“بمرور الوقت، سيقل حنينك لما كنت تمتلكه بالأمس وتعتاد ما تملكه اليوم أكثر.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“عندما ينزل بك البلاء، اقترب من الناس الذين يحبونك والذين يمكنهم تحمل آلامك دون أن يلقوا على مسامعك بالنصائح والآراء.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Last month, on a very windy day, I was returning from a lecture I had given to a group in Fort Washington. I was beginning to feel unwell. I was feeling increasing spasms in my legs and back and became anxious as I anticipated a difficult ride back to my office. Making matters worse, I knew I had to travel two of the most treacherous high-speed roads near Philadelphia – the four-lane Schuylkill Expressway and the six-lane Blue Route.

You’ve been in my van, so you know how it’s been outfitted with everything I need to drive. But you probably don’t realize that I often drive more slowly than other people. That’s because I have difficulty with body control. I’m especially careful on windy days when the van can be buffeted by sudden gusts. And if I’m having problems with spasms or high blood pressure, I stay way over in the right hand lane and drive well below the speed limit.

When I’m driving slowly, people behind me tend to get impatient. They speed up to my car, blow their horns, drive by, stare at me angrily, and show me how long their fingers can get. (I don't understand why some people are so proud of the length of their fingers, but there are many things I don't understand.) Those angry drivers add stress to what already is a stressful experience of driving.

On this particular day, I was driving by myself. At first, I drove slowly along back roads. Whenever someone approached, I pulled over and let them pass. But as I neared the Blue Route, I became more frightened. I knew I would be hearing a lot of horns and seeing a lot of those long fingers.

And then I did something I had never done in the twenty-four years that I have been driving my van. I decided to put on my flashers. I drove the Blue Route and the Schuylkyll Expressway at 35 miles per hour.

Now…Guess what happened?

Nothing! No horns and no fingers.

But why?

When I put on my flashers, I was saying to the other drivers, “I have a problem here – I am vulnerable and doing the best I can.” And everyone understood. Several times, in my rearview mirror I saw drivers who wanted to pass. They couldn’t get around me because of the stream of passing traffic. But instead of honking or tailgating, they waited for the other cars to pass, knowing the driver in front of them was in some way weak.

Sam, there is something about vulnerability that elicits compassion. It is in our hard wiring. I see it every day when people help me by holding doors, pouring cream in my coffee, or assist me when I put on my coat. Sometimes I feel sad because from my wheelchair perspective, I see the best in people. But those who appear strong and invulnerably typically are not exposed to the kindness I see daily.

Sometimes situations call for us to act strong and brave even when we don't feel that way. But those are a few and far between. More often, there is a better pay-off if you don't pretend you feel strong when you feel weak, or pretend that you are brave when you’re scared. I really believe the world might be a safer place if everyone who felt vulnerable wore flashers that said, “I have a problem and I’m doing the best I can. Please be patient!”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“A Buddhist teacher once said that a poisonous snake is only poisonous when you walk toward it.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Like all buses, it comes when it comes. You can wait with frustations, angers or feeling of victimhoods or you can wait with patience and relaxation, either way, it won't make the bus come any way faster”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“the wall is there to teach us.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“إن الآباء لا يتوقفون أبدا عن الأبوّة، ونحن نرى دائما مستقبلنا من خلال أعينهم. يمكننا أن نعتني بهم بأن نكون صرحاء وأن نذكرهم بأهمية المتعة. وأحيانًا تكون أفضل طريقة ليعتنوا بنا هي أن يعتنوا بأنفسهم”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“بتقدمنا في العمر، تفقد بعض خصائصنا قوتها، مثلما تفقد الحجارة حوافها الحادة جراء هطول مياه الشلالات عليها. وقد نفقد أيضاً جزءا من الحكمة العظيمة التي ولدنا بها. لكن أثر هذه الحكمة يظل موجودا معنا، أمام أعيننا.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“What you are about, is more important than who you are”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Giving to others is most precious when it is done quietly and selflessly.

Righteous indignation is like candy when you’re starving. It feels good, but it doesn’t sustain you very long.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters To Sam: a grandfather's letters to his grandson on love, loss and the gifts of life

“إننا نحارب الموت لأن لكل منا دافعًا شديد القوة للبقاء.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“يأتي الأمن الحقيقي عندما نرتاح لحقيقتنا (ويعزز هذا الشعور أن نكون في علاقة مبنية على الحب والتفاهم المتبادل). السعادة هي منتج جانبي للحياة التي نحياها.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Giving to others is most precious when it is done quietly and selflessly.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“The world is much bigger than you thought”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“When you do feel shame, seek out someone who loves and accepts you for who you are, in the intimacy that exposure brings, an amazing opportunity of being loved for who we are”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“A poisonous snake is only poisonous when you walk towards it.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“God told Abraham to leave his home and set for journey and to have faith of being taken care of. Not just an external journey, it was also a journey upon into oneself.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“In Greek mythology, Gods divide a human soil into two and send them world apart, and thus, each human is doomed to spend eternity looking for his/her other half”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Learn to tolerate your own different-ness from other people and learn to navigate your own waters”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“It's a funny thing about life, I think we're born square and we die round”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“الحياة تصبح أحلى بكثير عندما نعيش الحاضر.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“Altruistic love: giving to others is most precious when it is done quietly and selflessly”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“A wise man once said all children are born knowing what the angels look like”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life

“One day you will die, but death is not your enemy and it only makes you to appreciate life's gifts more with each passing second.”
― Daniel Gottlieb, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life