Quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert

If you don't have a clear passion and someone blithely tells you to go follow your passion, I think you have the right to give that person the middle finger.

Most individuals have never had enough time, and they've never had enough resources, and they've never had enough support or patronage or reward . . . and yet still they persist in creating. They persist because they care. They persist because they are called to be makers, by any means necessary.

Be not solitary; be not idle.

sins of the flesh will not get you punished in the afterlife. They will only get you punished in this life.

Never buy inexpensive or poorly made gloves," Edna instructed us. "That's not the place to save your money. Whenever you are faced with the prospect of purchasing gloves, you must ask yourself if you would be bereft to lose one of them in the back of a taxicab. If not, then don't buy them. You should only buy gloves so beautiful that to lose one of them would break your heart.

Don't rush through the experiences and circumstances that have the most capacity to transform you.

The bright red sap of the fei plant is meant to be useful for blood ailments." "The signature of all things," Alma murmured.

I'd clung to her like a tragic little koala

Every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most poeple who live there. If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be - that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there.

Death—so feared and so dodged—was, once you faced it, the simplest thing going. In order to die, one merely had to stop attempting to live. One merely had to agree to vanish. If Alma simply remained still, pinned beneath the bulk of this unknown opponent, she would be effortlessly erased.

One year, Alma bought Prudence- who liked to draw flowers (beautifully, though not 'accurately')- a lovely book on botanical illustration called Every Lady Her Own Drawing Master: A New Treatise on Flower Painting. That same year, Prudence made for Alma an exquisite satin pincushion, rendered in Alma's favorite color, aubergine.

Y si después de pasar por una época tan tenebrosa ves que queda un atisbo de felicidad en tu interior, no te queda más remedio que agarrar esa felicidad aunque acabes con la cara entera manchada de barro.

Remember that you are nothing but a beginner.

La experiencia me ha enseñado a ser cauta a la hora de conocer a mis héroes en persona; puede ser muy decepcionante

Good morning, Mr. Herbert!" I would say. "The point is debatable," he might respond. Or, on another day: "Good morning, Mr. Herbert!" "I will half allow it." Or: "Good morning, Mr. Herbert!" "I fail to see your argument." Or: "Good morning, Mr. Herbert!" "I find myself unequal to the occasion." Or, my favorite ever: "Good morning, Mr. Herbert!" "Oh, you're a satirist now, are you?

But other times you might need to say no to an idea because it is truly not the right moment, or because you're already engaged in a different project, or because you're certain that this particular idea has accidentally knocked on the wrong door.

The unnecessary and superfluous volume of pure beauty around here is not to be believed. I can pick papayas and bananas right off the trees outside my bedroom window. There's a cat who lives here who is enormously affectionate to me for half an hour everyday before I feed him, then moans crazily the rest of the time likes he's having Vietnam war flashbacks. Oddly, I don't mind this. I don't mind anything these days. I can't imagine or remember discontent.

I had wanted more, and I had not wanted more. A familiar old tale, from the lives of girls.

A fish and a bird may indeed fall in love, but where shall they live? I was a bird who could dive and Felipe was a fish who can fly, we basically lived in midair. Diving and flying across oceans and continents in order to be together.

Me importan un bledo las evidencias y las pruebas y las demostraciones. Lo único que busco es a Dios. Quiero tener a Dios dentro de mí. Quiero que Dios corra por mis venas como el sol corretea por la superficie del agua.

I suppose there are worse ways to lose your virginity." "All the other ways are worse," Jennie said. Believe me. I've tried them all.

May I assume that everything about a traditional wedding is repugnant and off-putting to you?" "That's correct.

Make space for all these paradoxes to be equally true inside your soul, and I promise—you can make anything. So please calm down now and get back to work, okay? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.

The exchange of love between earth and people calls forth the creative gifts of both. The earth is not indifferent to us, but rather calling for our gifts in return for hers—the reciprocal nature of life and creativity." Or, to put it more simply: Nature provides the seed; man provides the garden; each is grateful for the other's help.