Quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures

This is what we are like. Collectively, as a species, this is our emotional landscape. I met an old lady once, almost one hundred years old, and she told me, There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? And Who's in charge? Everything else is somehow manageable. But these two questions of love and control undo us all, trip us up and cause war, grief and suffering.

Without bravery, their lives would remain small - far smaller than they probably wanted their lives to be.

But never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else's blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people's judgments about you are none of your business.

Like a dog, I have pack needs; like a cat, he prefers a quieter house. As long as he is married to me, his house will never be quiet.

but I knew about him and I loved him dearly from a respectful distance...

If something is rubbing so hard against you, you can be sure it's working on you.

people's judgements about you are none of your business

The other problem with all this swinging through the vines of thought is that you are never where you are. You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment.

If you made something and it didn't work out, let it go. Remember that you're nothing but a beginner—even if you've been working on your craft for fifty years. We are all just beginners here, and we shall all die beginners. So let it go. Forget

Aside from my cockeyed internal compass, I also have a shortage of personal coolness, which can be a liability in travel. I have never learned how to arrange my face into that blank expression of competent invisibility that is so useful when traveling in dangerous, foreign places. You know - that super-relaxed, totally-in-charge expression which makes you look like you belong there, anywhere, everywhere, even in the middle of riot in Jakarta.

You are worthy, regardless of the outcome. You will keep making your work, regardless of the outcome. You will keep sharing your work, regardless of the outcome. You were born to create, regardless of the outcome. You will never lose trust in the creative process, even if you don't understand the outcome.

La adicción es típica en todas las historias de amor basadas en el encaprichamiento. Al llegar al destino final del amor caprichoso: la más absoluta y despiadada devaluación del propio ser.

I thought about the relentless thought-processing, soul-devouring machine that is my brain, and wondered how on earth I was ever going to master it.

My desire to work—my desire to engage with my creativity as intimately and as freely as possible—is my strongest personal incentive to fight back against pain, by any means necessary, and to fashion a life for myself that is as sane and healthy and stable as it can possibly be. But that's only because of what I have chosen to trust, which is quite simply: love.

Dessutom kunde jag inte glömma vad min syster en gång hade sagt till mig medan hon ammade: ''Att skaffa barn är som att skaffa sig en tatuering i ansiktet. Man måste vara bergsäker på att det är så man vill ha det innan man sätter igång.

Whether you think you're brilliant or you think you're a loser, just make whatever you need to make and toss it out there.

To even call somebody "a creative person" is almost laughably redundant; creativity is the hallmark of our species. We have the senses for it; we have the curiosity for it; we have the opposable thumbs for it; we have the rhythm for it; we have the language and the excitement and the innate connection to divinity for it.

Pure creativity is something better than a necessity; it's a gift. It's the frosting.

you may be wondering how it was physically possible for us to drink more than we already did, but here is the thing about drinking: one can always drink more, if one is truly committed. It's just a mater of discipline, really.

Einstein called this tactic "combinatory play"—the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another.

Done is better than good." I

One by one, the thoughts and memories of sadness raised their hands, stood up to identify themselves. I looked at each thought, at each unit of sorrow, and I acknowledged its existence and felt (without trying to protect myself from it) its horrible pain. And then I would tell that sorrow, It's OK. I love you. I accept you. Come into my heart now. It's over....

Medicating the symptom of any illness without exploring its root cause is just a classically hare-brained Western way to think that anyone could ever get truly better.