Quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert

I didn't know what I was doing at college aside from fulfilling a destiny that no one bothered explaining to me.

as a songwriter, the only thing I really do is make jewelry for the inside of other people's minds.

When I talk about "creative living" here, please understand that I am not necessarily talking about pursuing a life that is professionally or exclusively devoted to the arts.

During my first few weeks in Italy, all my Protestant synapses were zinging in distress, looking for a task. I wanted to take on pleasure like a homework assignment, or a giant science fair project.

Why was there never enough time?

If you are a pretty young woman looking for trouble in a big city, it's not difficult to find. But if you are two pretty young women looking for trouble, then trouble will tackle you on every corner—which is just how we wanted it.

You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes or failures. You can battle your demons (through therapy, recovery, prayer, or humility) instead of battling your gifts—in part by realizing that your demons were never the ones doing the work, anyhow. You

Yet she was a woman who bravely played the game of life anyhow—and allowed the game of life to somewhat play her. She was ironic, but not cold. The effect was a survivor who had not lost the ability to feel.

A soul mates purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit

As for Alma's father—Henry Whittaker, the gentleman of the estate—he was pleased with his child.

Eventually, all of us will be called upon to do the thing that cannot be done.

He kept begging God, "Please, please, please open my heart.

Hesitantly, she admitted that perhaps she wanted to be a writer. He smiled at the girl with infinite compassion and asked, "Do you have the courage? Do you have the courage to bring forth this work? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.

La imagen de artista trágico que prefiere dejar la pluma antes que alcanzar sus impecables ideales no tiene nada de romántica. Elegir este camino no me parece heroico. Creo que es mucho más honesto seguir en el juego —incluso si salta a la vista que estás perdiendo— que dejar de participar debido a lo delicado de tu sensibilidad. Pero, para seguir en el juego, tienes que renunciar a tus ansias de perfección.

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. It's something like the habit of my dear friend Susan, who-whenever she sees a beautiful place-exclaims in near panic, It's so beautiful here! I want to come back here someday! and it takes all my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she IS already here.

but truly there were times when the sadness of this world was scarcely to be endured, and the violence of love, Alma thought, was sometimes the most pitiless violence of all. Her

And sometimes the meal is the only currency that is real.

By completely absorbing our attention for a short and magical spell, it can relieve us temporarily from the dreadful burden of being who we are. Best of all, at the end of your creative adventure, you have a souvenir—something that you made, something to remind you forever of your brief but transformative encounter with inspiration.

Let your intention be freedom from useless suffering. Then, let go. Watch the heat of day pass into the cool night. Let go. When the karma of a relationship is done, only love remains. It's safe. Let go. When the past has passed from you at last, let go. Then climb down and begin the rest of your life. With great joy.

I would like never to travel again. I would like to spend the rest of my days in a place so silent—and working at a pace so slow—that I would be able to hear myself living.

Exactly because the human heart is such a mystery, love renders all our plans and all our intentions a great big gamble.

She smiled sweetly at everyone and always acted like a total cooperator—but then she shaped her own world exactly to her liking while nobody was looking.

Scandal or no scandal, I believe that our friendship was always destined to have been momentary—a collision of two vain young girls who intersected at the zenith of their beauty and the nadir of their intelligence, and who had blatantly used each other to acquire status and turn men's heads. That's all it had ever been, really, and that was perfect. That's all it had ever needed to be. I'd found deeper and richer female friendships later on in life

You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but that. Because if you can't learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever.