It’s probably unfair to expect the world at large, or even most people, to see us for all we are. It is essential, however, that we see ourselves for all we are. (413)

In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility. (17)

Sometimes you’ll hear, ‘People don’t change.’ This is true more often than it ought to be, but listen again: ‘People don’t change.’ It says ‘don’t, ’ not ‘can’t.’ (316)

You'll get younger not from what you read but from what you apply in your life. (192)

It stands to reason that anyone who learns to live well will die well. The skills are the same: being present in the moment, and humble, and brave, and keeping a sense of humor. (361)

Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right–and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself, even inside your head. (339)

When you can see your life in retrospect, the romanticism of how good things once were gives way to the reality that positives and negatives comprise every day and every decade. (235)

When you believe you reflect what is holy and good, you can see more that is good in every stage of your life. (319)

Life has its rhythm ad we have ours. They’re designed to coexist in harmony, so that when we do what is ours to do and otherwise let life be, we garner acceptance and serenity. (285)

Just because you’re grown up and then some doesn’t mean settling into the doldrums of predictability. Surprise people. Surprise yourself. (281)

A twenty-three-year-long study in Ohio determined that people who saw growing older as something positive lived a whopping seven and a half years longer than those who didn’t. (356)

until we do what has not yet been done, what has not been done shall remain undone

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale.

Oh. To be filled with goodness then shattered by goodness, so beautifully mosaically fragmented by such shocking goodness.

Music is supposed to wash away the dust of everyday life

An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.

You have to have something worth saying and then the ability to say it- writing's a double skill, really.

The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon how our children grow up today.

I learned early on that there are all sorts of stories I have no place telling.

Never, ever underestimate your readers. Everything you do registers.

I quickly realized that Patti [Smith] was somebody very special.