I can still discern people's weaknesses, but it doesn't make me want to exploit them; it makes me want to hug them.

The frustration of being marginalized often gets misdirected at the most visible members of one's own community, because they are more accessible than the real agents of marginalization.

Abandonment by a lover won't kill us. But it awakens the parts of us that remember when it could.

It has been my experience that the people I judge most harshly are the ones in whom I recognize some part of myself.

Anyone who makes a life of what they love is a hero to me, and it's important for those people to be visible in every kind of life, every kind of love, every kind of work.

New York at night, from its bridges, is a miracle. When I first came to the city, it took all my fantasies and set them on fire, turned them into flickering constellations of light.

You don't have to write like David Foster Wallace or James Baldwin or Maggie Nelson - indeed, you shouldn't. Those writers are doing it better than you ever could.

Torch songs are confessions. They are an expression of feeling that cannot be concealed or contained or minimized. They are marked by anguish, yes, but also by yielding.

The craft work becomes a mediator between me and my secrets, between me and the listener.

Letting go of the cozy stories you've been carrying around is devastating. But there's more room for new stuff after you do it.

Being celibate was so wonderful. It taught me a lot about love, but even more about my own self outside of love. I'd never met myself out of love before, really.

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.

When you look up/ Do you see the blue sky of what might be / Or the darkness of what will never be? / Do you see me?Kami Garcia/Margaret Stohl

Ask yourself the three things you must always ask yourself before you say anything. 1) Does this need to be said 2) “Does this need to be said by me? 3) Does this need to be said by me now?

For that thought to be strong, however, it must be free of doubt, for doubt weakens the will, weakens the response of the universe, and slows the manifestation of desire.

Any sympathy won for Aileen Wuornos based on a lie is not sympathy at all. The question is, can we have sympathy for the circumstances of someone's life? That's what I was interested in.

He fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even any sound.

The rain on my chest is a baptism - I'm born again.

I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid. A world superstar, but still a kid. Innocent, you know. He just plays.

That's the funny thing, she thought. You always want things to get better, but you never know how good you already have it.

No matter what sign you were born under, everybody else's horoscope will be more fun than yours.