Quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert

I did believe that my behavior made me unusual – because it didn't seem to match the behavior of other women – but I didn't believe that it made me bad.

word ciao comes from. (If you must know, it's an abbreviation of a phrase used by medieval Venetians as an intimate salutation: Sono il suo schiavo! Meaning: "I am your slave!")

Why would your creativity not love you? It came to you, didn't it? It drew itself near. It worked itself into you, asking for your attention and your devotion. It filled you with the desire to make and do interesting things. Creativity wanted a relationship with you. That must be for a reason, right? Do you honestly believe that creativity went through all the trouble of breaking into your consciousness only because it wanted to kill you?

I tell you, Becker, Henry said, if you make me eat mutton one more night this week, I will have someone shot. He doesn't really have people shot, Alma reassured Mr. Pike, under her breath. I had figured that, her guest whispered back, or else I would be dead already.

the drive for perfectionism is a corrosive waste of time, because nothing is ever beyond criticism. No

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 the half hour every day before I feed him, then moans crazily the rest of the time like he's having Vietnam

Psychologists call that state of deluded madness narcissistic love. I call it my twenties.

When we are young, Angela, we may fall victim to the misconception that time will heal all wounds and that eventually everything will shake itself out. But as we get older, we learn this sad truth: some things can never be fixed. Some mistakes can never be put right—not by the passage of time, and not by our most fervent wishes, either. In my experience, this is the hardest lesson of them all.

Even in the worst tragedies and crisis, there's no reason to add to everyone's misery by looking miserable yourself.

there's no way we can ever hope to understand ourselves if we don't at least marginally understand our home. That is the understanding we need to put our lives in some bigger metaphysical context. Instead, Eustace sees a chilling sight- a citizenry so removed from the rhythm of nature that we march through our lives as mere sleepwalkers, blinded, deafened, and senseless. Robotically existing in sterilized surroundings that numb the mind, weaken the body, and atrophy the soul.

I am going to spend as much time as I can creating delightful things out of my existence, because that's what brings me awake and that's what brings me alive.

I wish somebody had told them all to go fill up a bunch of pages with blah-blah-blah and just publish it, for heaven's sake, and ignore the outcome.

The rewards had to come from the joy of puzzling out the work itself, and from the private awareness I held that I had chosen a devotional path and I was being true to it.

What I'm saying is this: If my plan is to sit around waiting for another such unadulterated and impassioned creative visitation, I may be waiting for a very long time. So I don't sit around waiting to write until my genius decides to pay me a visit. If anything, I have come to believe that my genius spends a lot of time waiting around for me—waiting to see if I'm truly serious about this line of work.

One does not wish to lose the fondness of people one admires by revealing too much of oneself.

The better-educated you are, statistically speaking, the better off your marriage will be. The better-educated a woman is, in particular, the happier her marriage will be. Women with college educations and careers who marry relatively late in life are the most likely female candidates to stay married.

So that's the final lesson, isn't it? When you set out in the world to help yourself, you inevitably end up helping- Tutti.

One does not leave so small and beautiful a female creature alone with ten heated men in the middle of the night.

Moreover, when I see Felipe fly off the handle in public, it messes around with my cherished personal narrative about what a gentle and tenderhearted guy I have chosen to love, and that, frankly, pisses me off more than anything else. If there is one indignity I shall never endure gracefully, it is watching people mess around with my most cherished personal narratives about them.

Nunca discutas sobre Dios. Lo mejor es decir 'Estoy de acuerdo contigo'. Entonces vas a tu casa y rezas lo que tú quieres. Esta es mi idea para que las personas estén en paz con la religión.

Chop up that failure and use it for bait to try to catch another project.

She delighted in all that she beheld, and it made you want to stay near her, in order to bask in her delight

Fake it till you make it

The hunt to uncover those jewels—that's creative living.