Quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert

I've never stood on a piece of ground as throbbingly, even pornographically, generative.

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 matter of discipline, really.

She was happy because she had a partner, and because they were building something together, and because she believed deeply in what they were building, and because it amazed her to be included in such an undertaking.

Work with all your heart, because—I promise—if you show up for your work day after day after day after day, you just might get lucky enough some random morning to burst right into bloom.

Oh, Lord—responsibility. That word worked on me until I worked on it, until I looked at it carefully and broke it down into the two words that make its true definition: the ability to respond.

of her—and so I know nothing about her, beyond what Frank told me. I tend to believe that his descriptions of her were truthful, only because he was so truthful. But just because he described your mother truthfully doesn't necessarily mean he described her accurately. I can only assume that she was like all of us—a complicated being, composed of more than one man's impressions.

I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return.

The fun part (the part where it doesn't feel like work at all) is when you're actually creating something wonderful, and everything's going great, and everyone loves it, and you're flying high. But such instants are rare.

Shyness, as I have told you many times, is simply another species of vanity. Banish it.

I finally said, "Tutti, where did you learn to speak such good English?" "From a book!" she proclaimed. "I think you are a very clever girl," I informed her. "Thank you!" she said, and did a spontaneous little happy dance. "You are a very clever girl, too!

I do truly believe I am fortunate. I am fortunate because I have been able to spend my life in study of the world. As such, I have never felt insignificant. This life is a mystery, yes, and it is often a trial, but if one can find some facts within it, one should always do so - for knowledge is the most precious of all commodities.

This matter must never be spoken of again. We WASPs can apply that rule to anything—from a moment of awkwardness at the dinner table to a relative's suicide.

Then I give her a grim shake of my head and say aloud, 'This blows ass.' She nods sympathetically. She doesn't understand, but of course, in her way she understands completely.

Perfection takes time but comes for sure

As the saying goes, Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them. Why would I want to keep my limitations?

And with me and Rosella—things were never bad. We just lived separate lives. What you gotta understand about South Brooklyn, is that the neighborhood itself is a family. You can't break up that family. Really, my wife is married to the neighborhood. It was the neighborhood who took care of her while I was in the service. The neighborhood still takes care of her now—and Angela, too.

I'm not interested in the insurance industry. I'm tired of being a skeptic, I'm irritated by spiritual prudence and I feel bored and parched by empirical debate. I don't want to hear it anymore. I couldn't care less about evidence and proof and assurances. I just want God. I want God inside me. I want God to play in my bloodstream the way sunlight amuses itself on water.

This food won't be wasted; after the offering ceremony, Balinese families are always allowed to eat their own donations to the gods, since the offering is more metaphysical than literal. The way the Balinese see it, God takes what belongs to God - the gesture - while man takes what belongs to man - the food itself.

the Zen masters always say that you cannot see your reflection in running water, only in still water.

You are an idealist, which means that you are destined to be disappointed, and perhaps even wounded. You seek a gospel of benevolence and miracle, which leaves no room for the sorrows of existence. You are like William Paley, arguing that the perfection of every design in the universe is proof of God's love for us.

The world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world, says an old Buddhist teaching. In other words: Get used to it.

If you know anything about the friendships of young girls, you will know that there is always one person playing the part of the handmaiden, anyhow. Celia demanded

There is not a street in Naples in which some tough little kid in shorts and mismatched socks is not screaming up from the sidewalk to some other tough little kid on a rooftop nearby. Nor is there a building in this town that doesn't have at least one crooked old woman seated at her window, peering suspiciously down at the activity below.

And at the end of your days, you can thank creativity for having blessed you with a charmed, interesting, passionate existence.