Victoria Erickson

If you inherently long for something,
become it first.

  If you want gardens, become the gardener. 

  If you want love, embody love. 

  If you want mental stimulation, change the conversation. 

  If you want peace, exude calmness. 

  If you want to fill your world with artists, begin to paint. 

  If you want to be valued, respect your own time. 

  If you want to live ecstatically, find the ecstasy within yourself. 

This is how to draw it in,
day by day,
inch by inch.

What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? (2018)

I want to be in the kind of relationship
where I feel like the tiredness of my day
gets washed off just
by hugging you once
even if you don't make
my heart flutter
every second.

Mahatma Gandhi

You never know what results will come from your action.
But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

The Beauty Inside (2012)

"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami

You're not a kid anymore. You have the right to choose your own life. You can start again. If you want a cat, all you have to do is choose a life in which you can have a cat. It's simple. It's your right.

"Things The Grandchildren Should Know" by Mark Oliver Everett

Maybe I don't like people as much as the rest of
the world seems to... But occasionally, people will
pleasantly surprise me and I'll fall in love with
them, so go figure.

D. Antoinette Foy

I wear the universe backwards. I imagine putting stars in my coffee, and sugar in the sky. I imagine going fishing in clouds, and watching the sun hide behind lakes. I'm too busy dancing with my imagination to even tip toe with reality for a second. They say I'm going mad. They're right.

"The Selected Essays" by Jean-Paul Sartre

Every word has consequences.
Every silence, too.

"Hunger Makes Me" by Jess Zimmerman

The low-maintenance woman, the ideal woman, has no appetite. This is not to say that she refuses food, sex, romance, emotional effort; to refuse is petulant, which is ironically more demanding. The woman without appetite politely finishes what's on her plate, and declines seconds. She is satisfied and satisfiable.

A man's appetite can be hearty, but a woman with an appetite is always voracious: her hunger always overreaches, because it is not supposed to exist. If she wants food, she is a glutton. If she wants sex, she is a slut. If she wants emotional care-taking, she is a high-maintenance bitch or, worse, an “attention whore”: an amalgam of sex-hunger and care-hunger, greedy not only to be fucked and paid but, most unforgivably of all, to be noticed.

Nikita Gill

You are no one's
other half.

You are a whole,
an enough,
a complete being
in and of yourself.

Falling in love
with someone
should never ever
change that about you.

Two wholes make a whole.
Don't let society's silly sayings
tell you anything
otherwise.

"The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.
First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind's way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.
Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying 'time heals all wounds' is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.
Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.
Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.

David Budbill

Tomorrow we are bones and ash,
the roots of weeds poking through our skulls.
Today, simple clothes,
empty mind, full stomach,
alive, aware, right here, right now.
Drunk on music, who needs wine?
Come on, Sweetheart, let's go dancing
while we've still got feet.

"The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac" by Mary Oliver

[...]
I know, you never intended to be in this world.
But you're in it all the same.

So why not get started immediately.

I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over.

And to write music or poems about.

Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.
[...]

Nicole Addison

If you love something, don't rush it.
Allow yourself to feel it.
Embrace it.
Let its essence touch your heart, and
light up your world in the most wondrous of ways.
To love is a beautiful feeling,
so allow for this experience to unfold for you.

Sylvia Plath

I want to taste and glory in each day,
and never be afraid to experience pain;
and never shut myself up in a numb core of nonfeeling,
or stop questioning and criticizing life and take the easy way out.
To learn and think: to think and live; to live and learn:
this always, with new insight, new understanding, and new love.

Stephen Levine

Our suffering is caused by
holding on to how things
might have been,
should have been,
could have been.

Emily Mcdowell

"Finding yourself"

is not really how it works.

You aren't a ten dollar bill 

in last winter's coat pocket. 

You are also not lost. 

Your true self is right there, buried 

under cultural conditioning, other 

people's opinions, and inaccurate 

conclusions you drew as a kid that 

became your beliefs about who you are.

"Finding yourself" is actually 

returning to yourself.

An unlearning, an excavation, 

a remembering of who you were 

before the world got its hands on you.

(https://emilymcdowell.com/)

"Lust for Life" by Sylvester McNutt III

Everyone doesn't need access to
you. Some people are draining and
they don't even know it. You're
allowed to say no, you're allowed to
not answer your calls, you're allowed to
break plans, and if you need to save
yourself do it. 

"Where She Went" by Gayle Forman

But still, I find the need to remind myself of the temporariness of a day,
to reassure myself that I got through yesterday,
I’ll get through today.

We call ships 'she.' We call our war machines 'women.' We compare women to black widows and vipers. And you're going to tell me it’s not 'lady-like' to scream, to take up space, to fight and demand respect and do whatever the hell I want. You've looked at nuclear bombs and been so in awe that you could only name them after women. Don't try to down-play my power.

(found on tumblr)

The best way to get things done is simply to begin.

Sue Zhao

Sometimes when you were hurting, all you wanted was for someone to come and hold you until you stopped shaking. And all too often, no one would come.
And so, you learned to hold yourself.
And so, you learned to find sanctuary within your own mind.
And so, like this, you learned to survive.

"Alive" by Arati Warrier

One day, I plan to love so loudly,
my body abandons every demon
harvesting me.

Sun Tzu

However desperate the situation and circumstances, don't despair.
When there is everything to fear, be unafraid.
When surrounded by dangers, fear none of them.
When without resources, depend on resourcefulness.
When surprised, take the enemy by surprise.

Just Between Lovers, 2017

I really like this moment.
An uneventful moment
when today
becomes tomorrow.

Madalyn Beck

She craves fewer things,
less distractions,
and more adventure.
She knows that life isn't made
of what you have,
but of what you've endured.

Nicole Addison

A tree does not announce as it grows. It just does so quietly. Gradually. With serenity. No one else must know, as long as the tree itself knows that it's getting there.

Charles Bukowski

It wasn't my day.
         My week.
       My month.
      My year.
     My life.

God damn it.

Courtney Peppernill

You can't skip chapters, that's not how life works. You have to
read every line, meet every character. You won't enjoy all of it.
Hell, some chapters will make you cry for weeks. You will read
things you don't want to read, you will have moments when
you don't the pages to end. But you have to keep going.
Stories keep the world evolving. Live yours, don't miss out.

They call you a villain
because they're scared
of people
who save themselves,
and darling you wear
your scars higher
than any of their capes.

Leah Stone

you wanted me to fit
in a pretty little box
with a bow on top.
but I wanted to
frolic in fire
and fuck the stars.

Wer glaubt, dass
Schweigen Probleme löst,
der hält sich auch
die Augen zu, um
unsichtbar zu sein.

L. E. Bowman

I am learning how to share.
How to get lost
without losing myself.
How to give
without giving myself away.

Georgy

I can hold my own hand, so I'll need a little more than that;
I need respect, loyalty, honesty, support, and truthful love.