Quotes About Perspective

The paradox that you need to comfortably inhabit, if you wish to live a contented creative life, goes something like this: "My creative expression must be the most important thing in the world to me (if I am to live artistically), and it also must not matter at all (if I am to live sanely).

El mundo esta lleno de muerte y podredumbre, pero los sabios no sufren, porque conocen las urdidumbres del mundo

I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life—whether I will see them as curses or opportunities (and on the occasions when I can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoint, because I'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook).

People convince themselves that they have been robbed when they have not, in fact, been robbed. Such thinking comes from a wretched allegiance to the notion of scarcity—from the belief that the world is a place of dearth, and that there will never be enough of anything to go around. The motto of this mentality is: Somebody else got mine.

When I was younger, I had wanted to be at the cneter of all the action in New York, but I slowly came to realize that there is no one center. The center is everywhere--wherever people are living out their lives. It's a city with a million centers.

When I was younger, I had wanted to be at the center of all the action in New York, but I slowly came to realize that there is no one center. The center is everywhere--wherever people are living out their lives. It's a city with a million centers.

just because people can hear each other across the divide does not mean they can necessarily understand each other

Why have I been chasing happiness my whole life when bliss was here the entire time?

excited, I want to pause for a moment and ask you to consider all the negative conclusions that I could have drawn about this incident

Is it sometimes a difficult path? Sure. Does it make for an interesting life? The most. Will the inevitable difficulties and obstacles associated with creativity make you suffer? That part—cross my heart—is entirely up to you.

I also get that we women in particular must work very hard to keep our fantasies as clearly and cleanly delineated from our realities as possible, and that sometimes it can take years of effort to reach such a point of sober discernment.

There is a limit, I have found, to how much you can mourn as "tragic" the death of an older person who has lived a rich life, and who is privileged enough to die surrounded by loved ones. There are so many worse ways to live, after all, and so many worse ways to die. From

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

sometimes you count the days, sometimes you weigh them.

De los veinte a los cuarenta años nos esforzamos por ser perfectos porque nos preocupa mucho lo que pensará la gente de nosotros. Luego cumplimos los cuarenta y los cincuenta y empezamos a ser libres porque decidimos que nos importa un bledo lo que los demás piensen de nosotros. Pero no se es completamente libre hasta que se llega a los sesenta y los setenta, cuando por fin comprendes esta verdad liberadora: que nadie estaba pensando en ti».

You are not required to save the world with your creativity. Your art not only doesn't have to be original, in other words; it also doesn't have to be important.

It is the custom of the young to be selfish... But someday you will understand that nobody passes through this world without suffering--no matter what you think of them and their supposed good fortune.

You see, I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me.

My truth is not a condemnation of yours.

You see, I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me. I have wondered why it is not large and beautiful enough for others -- why they must dream up new and marvelous spheres, or long to live elsewhere, beyond this dominion...All I ever wanted was to know *this* world.

The more lightly you can pass that time, the brighter your existence becomes.

why are you so sure that your micromanagement of every moment in this whole world is so essential

La vida te enseñará que no hay que tomarse las cosas tan en serio, querida. El mundo no para de cambiar. Aprende a aceptarlo. Las personas hacen promesas y luego las rompen.

in that groggy hour before her demanding day job began, she skated. And she skated and skated and skated. And yes, she loved it, as much as ever. She loved it even more than ever, perhaps, because now, as an adult, she finally had the perspective to appreciate the value of her own joy.