Quotes from Heather Lende

I wonder if to be human is to know that we can't ever banish pain and ugliness from the world, only learn from it and create something beautiful and good out of it ...

I have a friend who says we spend the first half of our life building it and the second half preventing it from falling apart. I'd rather be under construction when I die.

People don't gather after a death to mourn, but rather to reaffirm why life matters and to remember to exult in the only one we'll ever have. We hold funerals, memorials, celebrations—whatever you want to call them—to seek and to find the heart of the matter of this trip we call Life.

Only adults weep with joy. Children don't. They haven't learned how rare moments of true happiness are.

The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way." Which is a roundabout way

You don't have to sing in a choir to see that a group of committed people who care about something that makes life a little brighter, and work hard at it, can accomplish more together than alone, but it helps.

It is often said that there are no atheists in foxholes. It seems to me that shelled bunkers would be full of skeptics. In the middle of a war it must be harder, not easier, to believe in a good God.

I believe gratitude comes from a place in your soul that knows the story could have ended differently, and often does, and I also know that gratitude is at the heart of finding the good in this world--especially in our relationships with the ones we love.

the world could end in any number of ways, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. The only choice any of us has is what to do if we're still here after it happens. Do we die a little death every day ourselves or do we reach for someone's hand and dance again?

Now I know better. The secret to aging more cheerfully is to play like a child.

But like most actions that rely on faith, it still took plenty of our own muscle and ingenuity.

What both halves of my heart-mind can agree on is that I am the one who chooses how to respond to the people and situations I encounter everyday.

Everyone needs to be needed, wants to be wanted, and loves to be loved.

When our mothers die, we are on our own; there is no one to call for help, no one to blame, and no one left who has a copy of your grandmother's recipe for the traditional Christmas coffee cake, which you can't find anywhere. Her

Wild places are reminders that the world doesn't revolve around us. It doesn't care about our little successes or smashing failures. The tides ebb and flow and the seasons change regardless of how we live or die.

the way Emily Dickinson meant when she wrote, "That it will never come again / Is what makes life so sweet.

I realized how critical it is to teach our children that people think differently, and that there are ways to act on our beliefs without demeaning others who don't believe the same things.

SLY STONE SANG IT LOUD. We are family. Our hearts are every bit as malleable as stardust turned to gold. Loving one another polishes them.

To shake off things like this I need to move—outside. I used to exercise for my body, but these days it's more for my soul.

There's a Buddhist saying that when your house is done your life is over. I hope Tom works on Camp Weasel forever.

both make the connection with objects from our past, too, and like to live surrounded by old things that wouldn't pass as antiques and aren't valuable to anyone except us.

There is no secret to being, as Linnus says, in that "first percentile," that minority of young couples who stay together for life. It's as simple, and as complicated, as keeping that look in your eyes.

True love is above all reliable. So we do the best we can to follow through

Who doesn't cry when they hear, "Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?