Quotes About Growth

But at some point, a full-grown woman has to be accountable for her own self, and for the choices she's made.

Children and adults are alike--it's not as if we ever outgrow our darker fears. Let's not pretend we're all so reluctant to entertain the unknown.

For a human to win, it is not necessary for a horse to lose. You should not have to take things away from a horse or break him in fragments in order to train him; rather you should add to the horse. The goal should be making, not breaking.

Gregor wanted more knowledge than the village grammar school could provide. The next level of school was a half-day's journey away. To attend, he would have to eat and sleep there. His parents scraped together every cent they could, but they could only afford to pay for books, a bed, and half of Gregor's meals. Twelve-year-old Gregor went anyway. He chose to feed his mind and go without food to fill his grumbling belly. At school, he feasted on his lessons.

Our attitude is that we want to cross over. You can't go on making records just for your own hometown.

Have you had stretches of time where dating or serious relationships were nonexistent?

When do my stories get to change?

The useless days will add up to something. The shitty waitressing jobs. The hours writing in your journal. The long meandering walks. The hours reading poetry and story collections and novels and dead people's diaries and wondering about sex and God and whether you should shave under your arms or not. These things are your becoming.

Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.

The story of human intimacy is one of constantly allowing ourselves to see those we love most deeply in a new, more fractured light. Look hard. Risk that.

Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start here.

But the reality is we often become our kindest, most ethical selves only by seeing what it feels like to be a selfish jackass first.

It is impossible for you to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have.

Accept that this experience taught you something you didn't want to know. Accept that sorrow and strife are part of even a joyful life. Accept that it's going to take a long time for you to get that monster out of your chest. Accept that someday what pains you now will surely pain you less.

We like to pretend that our generous impulses come naturally. But the reality is we often become our kindest, most ethical selves only by seeing what it feels like to be a selfish jackass first. It's the reason... we have to get burned before we understand the power of fire; the reason our most meaningful relationships are so often those that continued beyond the very juncture at which they came the closest to ending.

In your twenties you're becoming who you're going to be and so you might as well not be an asshole.

Be brave enough to break your own heart.

It's hard to go. It's scary and lonely…and half the time you'll be wondering why the hell you're in Cincinnati or Austin or North Dakota or Mongolia or wherever your melodious little finger-plucking heinie takes you. There will be boondoggles and discombobulated days, freaked-out nights and metaphorical flat tires. But it will be soul-smashingly beautiful… It will open up your life.

Hello, fear. Thank you for being here. You're my indication that I'm doing what I need to do.

The most terrible and beautiful and interesting things happen in life. For some of you, those things have already happened. Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.

What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have?

I would want things to be different than they were. The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods.

You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.

It's a long life, sweetheart, and time heals all wounds.