Quotes from Mark Matousek

The more we remember that life is a gift-that everything changes, we're not in control-the stronger our sense of well-being becomes.

You don't actually get over things… you incorporate them. They become part of everything you are. I don't mean that you walk about crying all the time. But you change.

Whatever it takes to break your heart and wake you up is grace.

You don't actually get over things… you incorporate them. They become part of everything you are. I don't mean that you walk about crying all the time. But you change.

When people are in need, you must be present. When people suffer, you must let them know you're suffering with them." "The good side of bad acts?" I say. "I would not say that from horror comes goodness. That would be giving horror too much credit. But goodness prevails in spite of horror.

joy is not just about being happy. Joy is a rigorous spiritual practice of saying yes to life on life's terms

As one widow put it to me, "Strength doesn't mean being able to stand up to anything, but being able to crawl on your belly a long, long time before you can stand up again.

As psychologist James Hillman reminds us, "Our lives are determined less by our childhood than by the traumatic way we have learned to remember our childhoods.

Solitude is different from loneliness. Solitude is rich, inspiring, and restful; replete with space and possibility. Loneliness is empty, pathetic, and enervating; bereft of power and potential. Lonely people expect others to fill their inner void, whereas lovers of solitude—which is what I invite you to become on this journey—recognize that time alone is precious, a refuge where you can practice meeting yourself in the mirror of the blank page.

The French have a term for this brazenness: je m'en foutisme, the brave art of not giving a damn.

All of us are walking contradictions made of mismatched parts and anomalies.

Plato called this anamnesis, remembering what and who we are, beneath our lives' shifting camouflage, beyond what can be taken away.