“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.”

“Do not expect people to tell you the truth because they also lie to themselves.”

“Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water. And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes you cannot even breathe deeply, and the night sky is no home, and you have cried yourself to sleep enough times that you are down to your last two percent, but nothing is infinite, not even loss. You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day you are going to find yourself again.”

“Finding your passion isn’t just about careers and money. It’s about finding your authentic self. The one you’ve buried beneath other people’s needs.”

“But as bad as it was, I learned something about myself … That I could go through something like that, and survive.”

“A long time ago I learned not to explain things to people. It misleads them into thinking they’re entitled to know everything I do.”

“But I must admit I miss you terribly. The world is too quiet without you nearby.”

“It’s so hard to leave- until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.”

“There are two reasons why we don’t trust people. First - we don’t know them. Second - we know them.”

“Even when I detach, I care. You can be separate from a thing and still care about it.”

“i pick up this bottle in the midst of everyone telling me that i’m a role model - i’m not asking you to coddle but i am feeling awful. this guilt is gnawing at my mind and i’m trying to make this something i can stomach by making it rhyme because this is something that i’m going to fail at for a lifetime. i don’t know how to talk about a relapse other than through a poem or photograph. i blog and try to inspire the masses - i’m passive when i write about my casket or me turning into ashes - i don’t know if i’ll ever beat this habit because due to my family history it’s a magnet. i didn’t ask for this pedestal - it got way out of hand and it became quicksand disguised as the promised land. there’s spilled drinks on the floor - i’m nothing that you should adore because when you look at me you should see a liquor store that is at fucking war behind a wooden door.”