StoryPeople quotes, by Brian Andreas

Are you a princess? I said & she said I'm much more than a princess but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth.

I like geography best, he said, because your mountains & rivers know the secret. Pay no attention to boundaries.

She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.

The first time her laughter unfurled its wings in the wind, we knew that the world would never be the same.

For a long time she flew when she thought no one else was watching.

She kept asking if the stories were true. I kept asking her if it mattered. We finally gave up. She was looking for a place to stand & I wanted a place to fly.

When I die, she said, I'm coming back as a tree with deep roots & I'll wave my leaves at the children every morning on their way to school & whisper tree songs at night in their dreams. Trees with deep roots know about the things children need.

There are things you do because they feel right & they make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good.

You're the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we'd know each other a long time.

I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am

I'm not sure if he's gone, she said, but his body is & that's the part I'm getting used to.

Most people she never tells about the tightrope because she doesn't want to listen to their helpful comments from the ground.

If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you.

I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my children & I think to myself, this is one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long.

There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise.

I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that.

Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable & fall asleep & miss your life.

She laid on my chest & her breathing filled me almost to beyond what I could hold.

I need you to come home soon, she said. I'm walking around like a woman who's let herself go.

They came to sit & dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday.

That was the day the ancient songs of blood & war spilled from a hole in the sky & there was a long moment as we listened & fell silent in our grief & then one by one, we stood tall & came together & began to sing of life & love & all that is good & true & I will never forget that day when the ancient songs died because there was no one in the world to sing them.

I have a friend who used to ride bareback in a circus. In one picture I've seen she is wearing blue sequins with her smile spread wide as her arms. One time I asked her was it hard to balance? No, she said, you always balance. Only sometimes, she added, you balance on your butt.

Whenever she stood in line at the bank ,or while waiting for the bus, I noticed her feet. The right always in front & perpendicular to the left just so. Even after 2 children, she still dreamed of being a dancer.

Of course I act like a barbarian, he said. They're the only ones who have any fun in this life.

I have a friend who reads people's auras. He sees all sorts of colors like green & red & purple. He says anyone can do it. All it takes is forgetting everything you think you know & just looking. I've tried it & even though I haven't seen any colors yet, everyone I meet looks so beautiful when I stop knowing everything, that it's pretty hard to go back to the old way.

He followed the sun & she followed the stars & in dreams they listened closely for the beginning of all things, for that was where they knew they'd find each other.

I've always thought death was a lot like Christmas, he said. I can't wait to find out if being good the whole time was worth it.

Can you prove any of the stuff you believe in? my son asked me & when I said that's not how belief works, he nodded & said that's what he thought but he was just checking to make sure he hadn't missed a key point.

In those days,
we finally chose
to walk like giants
& hold the world
in arms grown strong with love
& there may be many things we forget
in the days to come,
but this will not be one of them.

Everything changed the day he figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in his life.

We lay there & looked up at the night sky & she told me about stars called blue squares & red swirls & I told her I'd never heard of them. Of course not, she said, the really important stuff they never tell you. You have to imagine it on your own.

He told me that the night his mother died, there were storms & far away he saw purple lightning & someone left the window open & the room filled with a swirl of butterflies & she slipped out quietly without anyone noticing & I'm sure the grief was softer because of that.

Some days it's not worth the effort to pull myself together, she said, so I'm glad I get cable.

Whenever I go on a trip, I think about all the homes I've had & I remember how little has changed about what comforts me.

There came a moment in the middle of the song when he suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that he never forgot he was part of something much bigger.

I'm not sure if there's one right place I'm supposed to be, he said, but I know a couple of wrong places I'd give a second try in a heartbeat.

I have too much to lose, she said, if I cross that line. Like what? I said. She could not think of anything that day so she said she'd get back to me. Since then I've been thinking what I would lose if I cross my line & I haven't come up with anything either. There's always another line somewhere.

“And we looked into each other and started laughing. I loved that we were lying there naked and laughing for no reason other than the fact that we- and nobody else- were us.” -Megan Mccafferty, Second Helpings

“The ignorant take themselves too seriously. The brilliant know better, and laugh at themselves.” -Megan Mccafferty, Second Helpings

“Even with the best intentions, growing apart might just be an inevitable part of growing up. It's no ones fault, so there's nothing to feel guilty about. It's just the way things are. I know this is pessimistic, but i just don't see the point in putting any effort in this. Life, as it is, always seems to get in the way.” Megan Mccafferty, Second Helpings

"I've learned you can't control what other people are going to think about you. The best you can do in life is not piss yourself off."-Megan Mccafferty, Second Helpings

“We are perfect in our imperfection.” -Megan Mccafferty, Second Helpings

“All I’m saying is that you can’t hide from certain death, so you shouldn’t hide from uncertain life.” -Megan Mccafferty, Charmed Thirds

“So that’s why you’re so teary-eyed. Don’t be sad. The people who really matter, you’ll see them again.” Megan Mccafferty, Charmed Thirds

“Someone once said: it’s the good girls who keep diaries. The bad girls never have the time. Me… I just wanna live a life I’m gonna remember. Even if I don’t write it down.” -One Tree Hill

“There's just something about being from the Carolinas. We've got this assured swagger that's unmistakable, a charm that could only come from being from the coast. Never ask us if were ready to party, chances are we're the ones throwing it. Our life is about the water, country music, football, front porches and taking care of the people around us. Sure we may tend to be a little behind the times in the way we live, but the truth is we just like to keep it simple and take things a little bit slower.”

“When you can't make sense of someone leaving, you sometimes try to make sense of what they left behind. And it makes it a whole lot easier when what they left you was beautiful.“ -Dead Like Me

"Think of all the women you know who will not allow themselves to be seen without makeup. I often wonder how they feel about themselves at night when they are climbing into bed with intimate partners. Are they overwhelmed with secret shame that someone sees them as they really are? Or do they sleep with rage that who they really are can be celebrated or cared for only in secret?" -Communion, Bell Hooks

"I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone..." -Shawshank Redemption

"I started thinking about why I like country music and doing this show so much, and here is what I came up with, ya'll: I like country music because it's about the things in life that really matter. It ain't about braggin' about how you're gonna mess somebody up or how somebody ain't respecting you-- it's about love, family, friends, a few beers, a cheap woman and a two-timing man, thrown in for spice. It doesn't take political sides, even on things as ugly as war. Instead, it celebrates the brave men and women who go to fight them, the price they pay to do it and the longing we have for them to return home to the ones that they love. It's about kids and how there ain't nothing like them. I get tired of hearing about how bad kids are today, because there are a lot of great kids out there that just need someone to love them and believe in them. Country folks love their kids and they will jack you up if you try to mess with them. People in country music don't forget the people that allow them to do what they do for a living. They sign autographs and take pictures with the fans because they know without them, most of us entertainers would get a lot dirtier in the course of our work day. We are thankful that people want to hear the songs and the jokes that we write. Country music doesn't have to be politically correct. We sing about God because we believe in Him. We're not trying to offend anybody, but the evidence that we have seen of Him in our small little lives trumps your opinion on whether or not He exists. We love country music because it touches us where we live. It's about mamas and when they were hot and when they are unappreciated and when they were dying. It's about daddies and the difficulties they have sometimes in telling the people that they work so hard to protect and provide for how they feel about them. Country music is about new love and it's about old love. It's about getting drunk and it's about getting sober. It's about leaving and it's about coming home. It's real music sung by real people, for real people, the people that make up the backbone of this country. You can call us rednecks if you want, we're not offended, 'cause we know what we're all about. We get up and go to work, we get up and go to church and we get up and go to war when neccessary. All we ask for is a few songs to carry us along the way, and that's why I love this show, because it ain't some self-important, Hollywood-hype with the winners determined by somebody else. On this show, you decide who goes home with a trophy and you get to dance and sing along with the people that bring you the songs of your life." -Jeff Foxworthy, CMT Awards

“You gotta do what your heart tells you to do. Let me tell you somethin' right now. You're only allowed three great women in your lifetime. They come along like the great fighters, every ten years. Rocky Marciano. Sugar Ray Robinson. Joe Louis. Sometimes you get 'em all at once. Me? I had my three when I was 16. That happens. What are you gonna do? That's the way it goes, you know? Tell you right now. See this girl? Maybe this girl, she put wind in your sails. Maybe she's your first great one.“ -A Bronx Tale

"Too often, the thing you want most is the one thing you can’t have. Desire leaves us heartbroken, it wears us out. Desire can wreck your life. And as tough as wanting something can be, the people who suffer the most are those who don’t know what they want." - Grey's Anatomy

“Lost love is still love. It takes a different form. That’s all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.” -The Five People You Meet in Heaven

"Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather then our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God's hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we simply chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater then us?" -Dan Brown, Angels & Demons

"The thing about good music is this: if you were to take out all the lyrics in a song, you'll still know what the song’s about..." -Jimi Hendrix

“All the really exciting things in life require more courage than we currently have. A deep breath and a leap. See, the kind of fear you’re talking about, sometimes it’s how you know what’s worthwhile.” -Dawson's Creek

“The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.” -Chuck Palaniuk, Invisible Monsters

“I wondered what happened when you offered yourself to someone, and they opened you, only to discover you were not the gift they expected and they had to smile and nod and say thank you all the same.” -Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

“The romantics would call this a love story, the cynics would call it a tragedy. In my mind it's a little bit of both, and no matter how you choose to view it in the end, it does not change the fact that it involves a great deal of my life and the path I've chosen to follow.” - Nicholas Sparks, 'The Notebook'

“Sometimes we don't do things that we want to do, so that others don't know we want to do them.” -The Village

“It doesn't really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist's chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on.” -C.S. Lewis

“To die will be an awfully big adventure.” -J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

"Whether you think you can’t, or whether you think you can, you're right." -Henry Ford

"Start by doing the hardest thing, forgive yourself." -Spiderman 3

"You want forgiveness, get religion." Spiderman 3

“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.” -Mary Tyler Moore

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” -Oprah Winfrey

“They get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.”

“Sometimes you tell yourself the things you need to hear.” -Ann Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

“I’m inspired by her. She says yes to life. She is a doer. The world smiles on her, or at least she thinks it does. And that’s what matters.” -Girls’ Poker Night, Jill Davis

"One of the tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today." -Dale Carnegie

"Dreaming permits each and everyone one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives." -William Dement

"I couldn't think of anything, except that he was touching me." -Twilight, Stephenie Meyer

"We deny that we're tired, we deny that we're scared, we deny how badly we want to succeed. And most importantly, we deny that we're in denial. We only see what we want to see and believe what we want to believe, and it works. We lie to ourselves so much that after a while the lies start to seem like the truth. We deny so much that we can't recognize the truth right in front of our faces." -Grey's Anatomy

"When I left him, he was already walking away." -Nicole Santosuosso

"Every day the opportunity exists to change your life. But most days, the idea of having to change the big things in life just seems like too much work." -Girls’ Poker Night by Jill Davis

cuz our days were numbered
by nights on too many rooftops
they said we're wasting our lives
oh at least we know that if we die
we lived with passion
they said we'd burn so bright
we'd burn this city and go
-cartel

"When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability.... To be alive is to be vulnerable." -Madeleine L'Engle

"I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams." -Jonas Salk

”You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” –J. K. Rowling

"There is no such thing as a weird human being. It's just that some people require more understanding than others." -Tim Robbins

"It will do you no harm to find yourself ridiculous. Resign yourself to be the fool you are." -T.S. Elliot

"I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion." -Jack Kerouac

Listen to the mustn'ts, child,
listen to the don'ts
listen to the shouldn'ts
the impossibles, the won'ts
listen to the never haves
then listen close to me -
anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
-Shel Silverstein

"Write to evoke emotion, not to describe it." -Hemmingway

"You can't be wise and in love at the same time." -Bob Dylan

"You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows." -Bob Dylan

"The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew..." -Bob Dylan

“I don’t like work – no man does – but I like what is in the work, - the chance to find yourself. Your own reality – for yourself, not for others – what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.” -Charlie Marlow, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

May 29, 2007

"Scar tissue has no character. It's not like skin. It doesn't show age or illness or pallor or tan. It has no pores, no hair, no wrinkles. It's like a slipcover. It shields and disguises what's beneath. That's why we grow it; we have something to hide." -Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen.

"One day you're in diapers; the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul." -The Wonder Years

"When I was a teenager I wanted to write the Great American Novel. But then I realized that I didn't even want to read the Great American Novel." -Everybody Loves Raymond

"Beauty fades. Dumb is forever." -Judge Judy

"I don't want to be happy. I want to be with you." -Three's Company

"When someone sees you as you really are and wants to be with you, that's powerful." -Sex Feet Under

"I hate when I'm an idiot and I don't know it. I like to be aware of my idiocy, to really revel in it, take pictures." -Gilmore Girls

"Sometimes when you want to believe so badly, you end up looking too hard." -The X-Files

"I like school. It's a good way to kill time between weekends." -Saved By The Bell

"You see this little hole? This moth's just about to emerge. It's in there right now, struggling. It's digging its way through the thick hide of the cocoon. Now, I could help it - take my knife, gently widen the opening, and the moth would be free - but it would be too weak to survive. Struggle is nature's way of strengthening it." -Lost

“There is a big difference in what we long for, what we settle for, and what we are meant for.”

“Studies have shown that people convince themselves that they're acting rationally when making major decisions-- where to go to college, what to major in, who to kiss or not kiss--when they're really acting on unconscious impulses. The human brain simply can't handle all the complexities that life offers, so emotions kick in and end up making the call. And when that call blows, people don't understand why.” -Megan McCafferty, Charmed Thirds

“Just remember, the same as a spectacular Vogue magazine, remember that no matter how close you follow the jumps: Continued on page whatever. No matter how careful you are, there's going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn't experience it all. There's that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention. Well, get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day. This is all practice. None of this matters. We're just warming up.” -Chuck Palahniuk

“When my date takes me home and kisses me good night, if I don't hear the philharmonic in my head, I dump him.” -The Mirror Has Two Faces

“This thing that we call a wedding ceremony is really the final scene of the fairy tale. They never tell you what happens after. They never tell you that Cinderella drove the Prince crazy with her obsessive need to clean the castle, cause she missed her day job, right?” -The Mirror Has Two Faces

“Now you spend an extra hour in front of the mirror every morning and every night. And now you'll be the one to walk into a room and scan it for who looks better than you and who doesn't. And as the years go by, the numbers change. One day you'll walk into a room and you're the last woman any man notices.” -The Mirror Has Two Faces

“It's not a date. We're just agreeing to eat at the same table.” -The Mirror Has Two Faces

“I tell you what I envy about people in love - I'd love it if someone knew me, I mean really knew me. What I like, what I'm afraid of, what kind of toothpaste I use.” -The Mirror Has Two Faces

"She was sorry to have hurt her, but she wanted them all to leave her alone, let her keep it together. Kindness was the last thing she needed. She had to stay in the icy place, the numb place, and their warmth threatened to melt her just when she needed the cold." -Paint It Black, Janet Fitch.

"I've been a miner for a heart of gold." -Neil Young

“True love has spiritual dimensions, while romantic love is a lie. A myth. A soulless manipulation. And speaking of manipulation ... it's like going to the movies and seeing the lovers kiss. The music swells, and we buy it, right? So when my date kisses me, and I don't hear strings, I dump him. The question is, why do we buy it? Because, myth or manipulation, we all want to fall in love. That experience makes us feel completely alive. Our everyday reality is shattered, and we are flung into the heavens. It may only last a moment, an hour, but that doesn't diminish its value. We're left with memories we treasure for the rest of our lives. I read, ''When we fall in love, we hear Puccini in our heads.'' I love that. His music expresses our need for passion and romantic love. We listen to La Bóheme or Turandot, or read Wuthering Heights, or watch Casablanca, and a little of that love lives in us too. So the final question is: Why do people want to fall in love, when it can have such a short run and be so painful? …I think it's because, as some of you may already know ... While it does last, it feels fucking great.” -The Mirror Has Two Faces

“Some of life's best lessons are learned at the worst times." -Ani Difranco

"No one ever talks about it, but no one can disguise the cloud of competition that's hanging behind their eyes." -Ani Difranco

"You've gotta live light enough to see the humor and long enough to see some change." -Ani Difranco

"Each one of us wants a piece of the action; you can hear it in what we say, you can see it in what we do." -Ani Difranco

"If you don't ask the right questions, every answer seems wrong." -Ani Difranco

"Girls suck. It's like they get lobotomized the second they hit puberty. One day you're all milling around in the Rainbow Brite section at FAO Schwartz. The next day someone has breasts... After that, it's all about getting boys to like you and whoever dies the thinnest wins." -Dawson's Creek

"Girls have all these idiotic, misguided notions about boys. We always think we can spruce them up, turn them into something they're not." -Dawson's Creek

"It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind." -Dawson’s Creek

“Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it.’” -Tuesdays With Morrie, Mitch Albom

"Emotion doesn't need translation."

"I feel that I'm finally growing weary of waiting to be consumed by you." -Fiona Apple

“Fuck what you know. You need to forget about what you know, that's your problem. Forget about what you think you know about life, about friendship, and especially about you and me.” -Fight Club

“Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned.” -Fight Club

“After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down.” -Fight Club

“If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?” -Fight Club

“Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.” -Fight Club

“When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep... and you're never really awake.” -Fight Club

“Every time I look at you... I feel better. It shocks me. It knocks my wind out, but it's true. I don't have to have sex with you, I'd be happy just look at you from across the room. And even that, anything, any piece of you. And, hopefully, all of you. That'd be the best thing. Because I love you.” -Grey’s Anatomy

“We all think we’re going to be great, and we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren’t met. But sometimes our expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You got to wonder why we cling to our expectations, because the expected is just what keeps us steady. Standing. Still. The expected's just the beginning, the unexpected is what changes our lives.” -Grey’s Anatomy

"And it doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of Chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends. You still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood... and how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy..." -The Holiday

“If you want to be a better person, stop thinking about it and just live.” -John Mayer

“I can be selfish, impatient, and even insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control... and at times I can be hard to handle, but if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” -Marilyn Monroe

“It's terribly amusing how many different climates of feeling one can go through in a day.“ -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“It's all about character. Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” -Frank Out

“I know there will be better things. That's kind of the best thing about being young... knowing all these things are on their way... these better things.” -Peyton Sawyer

“Your problems will seem inconsequential and trivial when you realize one thing. We’re just a speck of dirt on this golf ball called earth, so get stupid and sing…” -311

“Did you feel it change? I mean how many moments in life can you point to and say, ‘That’s when it all changed’?” -One Tree Hill

“When a defining moment comes along, you can do one of two things. Define the moment, or let the moment define you.” -Tin Cup

“What is it you said to the kid? The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very rough, mean place... and no matter how tough you think you are, it'll always bring you to your knees and keep you there, permanently... if you let it. You or nobody ain't never gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit... it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward... how much you can take, and keep moving forward. If you know what you're worth, go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit.” -Rocky

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” -Sir Winston Churchill

“You ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other people's lives we've been in. Were we a part of a stranger's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in - as if we were destined to be there? Or did the shot take us by surprise? Just think, you could be a big part of someone else's life and not even know it.” -One Tree Hill

“It's the rule of life that everything you have always wanted comes the very second you stop looking for it.” -Sex & the City

"I wonder what Piglet is doing," thought Pooh. "I wish I were there to be doing it, too." -Winnie the Pooh

“Sometimes the best way to find out who you are, is to get to that place where you don't have to be anything else.” -Dave Matthews Band

“Whenever there is a mirror around, it is almost impossible not to take a look at yourself. Even though we all know what we look like, we all like just to look at our reflections, if only to see how we're doing.” -Lemony Snicket

“You know how every now and then, you have a moment where your whole life stretches out ahead of you like a forked road, and even as you choose one gritty path, you've got your eye on the other the whole time, certain that you're making a mistake?” -Jodi Picoult

“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth.” -Diane Ackerman

“What I want is to be needed. What I need is to be indispensable to somebody. Who I need is somebody that will eat up all my free time, my ego, my attention. Somebody addicted to me. A mutual addiction.” -Chuck Palahniuk

“You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody's got for real happiness." You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.” -Breakfast at Tiffany’s

“At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close. But sometimes, that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need.” -Grey’s Anatomy

“What if it turns out that a life isn’t defined by who you belong to or where you came from, by what you wished for or whom you lost, but instead by the moments you spend getting from each of these places to the next.” -Jodi Picoult

"I'd say my biggest fear is that this thing with Michael is about sex. That this is really just sexual attraction and nothing more. And fine, you know, because that can be fun too. But if I’m worried it's all about sex, I guess what I'm really worried about is that for me it only partially has to do with sex. That for me it's about caring for him, so why risk giving into that just to have him leave me?“ -Girl’s Poker Night, Jill Davis

"I think it was the first time in my life I ever felt like I looked 'good.' Do you know what I mean? That nice feeling when you look in the mirror, and your hair's right for the first time in your life? I don't think we should base so much on weight, muscles, and a good hair day, but when it happens, it's nice. It really is." -The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." -The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"She wasn't bitter. She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just takes time." -The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. And I'm going to figure out what that is."-The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad." -The Perks of Being a Wallflower

May 27, 2007

“We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves.” -Henri Frederic Amiel

“The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.” -Richard Bach

Lorelai: I could lose him if I pushed too hard.
Linny: You don't really seem to have him now. At least not the way you want to have him. You won't get anything unless you ask for it. Then if you ask for it and you don't get it, maybe it wasn't worth having in the first place. Some things are just never meant to be. No matter how much we wish they were.
-Gilmore Girls

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"Love is as strong as death. Why be capable of feelings if we're not to have them? Why long for things if they're not meant to be ours?" -Tristan & Isolde

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” -Clementine Paddleford

"There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room."

"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special." -Jim Valvano, 1993 ESPY awards

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” -The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

“He recognized that he was feeling something he had never experienced before: the desire to live in one place forever.” -The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

“When I was a boy, my mother told me that everyone comes into our lives for a reason. I’m not sure if I believe that’s true. The thought of God weaving millions of lives together into a grand human tapestry seems a bit fatalistic to me. Still, as I look back at my life, there seem to be times when such divinity is apparent… Perhaps my mother was right. If God can align the planets, maybe He can do the same to our lives.” -Finding Noel, Richard Paul Evans

“I’ve wondered why it is that some people come through difficult times bitter and broken while others emerge stronger and more empathetic? I’ve read that the same breeze that extinguishes some flames just fans others. I still don’t know what kind of flame I am.” -Finding Noel, Richard Paul Evans

“What did I tell ya? There's the whole world at your feet. And who gets to see it? But the birds, the stars and the chimney sweeps.” -Mary Poppins

"You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it."-V for Vendetta

"Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free.." -V for Vendetta

“A woman often thinks she regrets the lover, when she only regrets the love.” -Francois de la Rochefoucauld

“When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college- that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, ‘You mean they forget?’” -Howard Ikemoto

“And all she wants is someone to be afraid of losing her.”

“When you drop a glass or a plate to the ground, it makes a loud crashing sound. When a window shatters, a table leg breaks, or when a picture falls off the wall, it makes a noise. But as for your heart, when that breaks, it’s completely silent. You would think as it’s so important it would make the loudest noise in the whole world, or even have some sort of ceremonious sound like the gong of a symbol or the ringing of a bell. But it’s silent and you almost wish there was a noise to distract you from the pain.” -Cecelia Ahern

“Yesterday at the market, I saw a couple holding hands... and I realized we'll never do that. Never anything like it. No picnics or unguarded smiles. No rings. Just... stolen moments that leave too quickly.” -Tristan & Isolde

“Why is it when you do something terrific, nine times out of 10 you're all alone, but when you screw up really big, the whole world is watching?” -Mr. Destiny

“I guess that's what happens in the end, you start thinking about the beginning.” -Mr. & Mrs. Smith

“If you give off signals that you don't want to belong, people will make sure that you don't.” -Pretty in Pink

“Regrets are as personal as fingerprints.” -Margarete Culkin Banning

“Laugh, laugh, laugh. Life is like high school and it's small and everybody talks about everybody, so just laugh." -Drew Barrymore