Quotes from Elizabeth Gilbert

True Yogis, from their seat of equipoise, ser all this World as an equal manifestation of God's creative energy—men, women, children, turnips, bedrugs, coral: it's all God in disguise. But the Yogis believe that a human life is a very special opportunity, because only in a human form and only with a human mind can God-realization ever occur. The turnips, the bedrugs, the coral—they never get a chance to find out who they really are. But we do have that chance.

only thing I'd said was that a supreme intelligence exists in the universe, and that it longs for union with us.

Alma sat down and waited. She thought of the story the Reverend Welles had told her of Taroa, the original god of the Tahitians. Taroa, the creator. Taroa, born in a seashell. Taroa lay silently for countless ages as the only thing living in the universe. The world was so empty that when he called out across the darkness, there was not even an echo. He nearly died of loneliness. Out of that inestimable solitude and emptiness, Taroa brought forth our world.

Sometimes it's just true that other people have better ideas for your life than you do.

Listen, you're a powerful woman and you're used to getting what you want out of life, and you didn't get what you wanted in your last few relationships and it's got you all jammed up. Your

However, I've always had the sense that the muse of the tormented artist—while the artist himself is throwing temper tantrums—is sitting quietly in a corner of the studio, buffing its fingernails, patiently waiting for the guy to calm down and sober up so everyone can get back to work.

The philosopher Odo Marquard has noted a correlation in the German language between the word zwei, which means "two," and the word zweifel, which means "doubt"—suggesting that two of anything brings the automatic possibility of uncertainty to our lives.

Yeah, baby! And you are the magnet and I'm the steel! Bring to me your leather, take from me my lace!

I've watched far too many brilliant and gifted female creators say, "I am 99.8 percent qualified for this task, but until I master that last smidgen of ability, I will hold myself back, just to be on the safe side.

If the person of most consequence in the world has chosen to prefer us over all others, then we become accustomed to having what we wish for. Wasn't that the case with you, as well? How can we not feel that we are strong—people like you and me?

sometimes you count the days, sometimes you weigh them.

You should never give yourself a chance to fall apart, when you do, it become a tendency and it happens over and over again. You must practice staying strong, instead.

since Moses was in nappies.

Maybe you remember...what a powerful impact the word fuck used to have in our society--back before everybody and thier children started saying it 10 times a day before breakfast

Any place that one could not leave was not large—particularly if one was a naturalist!

I can't be the only ancient woman still tottering around New York City, absolutely refusing to abandon either her life or her real estate.

fact was not merely true about the lives of human beings; it was also true of every living entity on the planet, from the largest creation down to the humblest. It was

I had actively participated in every moment of the creation of this life–so why did I feel like none of it resembled me?

Creo que nuestro planeta está habitado no solo por animales, plantas, bacterias y virus, sino también por ideas. Las ideas son una forma de vida incorpórea, energética. Son algo completamente independiente de nosotros, pero capaz de interactuar con nosotros, si bien de maneras extrañas.

make mistakes, you must account for them. There will be instances when you must cast aside your impulses and take a higher stance than another person—a person without honor—might take. Such instances may hurt, but that's why honor is a painful field.

I have come to understand what part of me is suffering when I fail: It's just my ego. It's that simple.

But for me, to experience life through mere reason is to feel about in the dark for God's face while wearing heavy gloves.

Man kan måle sit værd på sin loyalitet over for sine valg, ikke på sine succeser eller fiaskoer.

Marilynne Robinson calls "an overabundance that is magical." That magical overabundance?