“She is water: soft enough to offer life, tough enough to drown it away.”

“Books are becoming everything to me. If I had at this moment any choice of life, I would bury myself in one of those immense libraries and never pass a waking hour without a book before me.”

We could have been happy. I know that, and it is perhaps the hardest thing to know.

Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.

It is an easy mistake to think that non-talkers are non-feelers.

I am a twisted person. The only way I can know my capacity for love is from my capacity for anguish. Before suffering, I don't know.

If you feel lost, you just have to start trying anything and everything. Only action brings change. You can't just sit there and overthink it.

The sensitive suffer more; but they love more, and dream more.

I wish that photographs were physical spaces, like tunnels; that you could crawl inside them and go back.

I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.

We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names.

“1. Tell him how much you appreciate him. He almost certainly feels like he isn’t enough for you, and he deserves to know how truly grateful you are. 2. Let him know that you will always and unconditionally be there, even when it feels like the whole world is against him. He needs to know that you’re there for him just as much as he is for you. 3. Compliment him. Tell him how phenomenal of a kisser he is, or how muscular his back feels under your small hands. Let him know how handsome he is. Tell him he’s the sweetest person you know. Trust me, he needs it. 4. Be his cheerleader. Celebrate his successes, no matter how small, like he just won the lottery. Go to all of his games or presentations or performances, and kiss him like you mean it when they’re done. 5. Hold him while he’s crying. Wrap your arms around his neck and play with his hair. Be his shoulder to cry on, and let him know that this is okay. 6. Kiss him hard. Kiss him with so much passion that he smiles against your lips. Kiss his lips, his cheeks, his forehead, his hands, anywhere that will make him smile. 7. Tell him you love him when he’s happy, when he’s sad, or mad, or excited, or proud, or anxious, or even when you’re fighting. This will keep him strong throughout his days. I promise.”

“Today is good. Remember how much your friends love you, and if you can’t remember, go outside and feel how much the Sun loves you; how it feels to be hugged by the light. Eat some fruit. Drink some water. Buy a candle that smells like cupcakes. Today is good, I promise, and tomorrow might be even better.”

“Sometimes you can’t go back. Sometimes you try anyway. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you try to go back with someone and they show you why you shouldn’t. They show you that you can’t. They show you that you’ve changed but they haven’t. They make you realise going back would be the worst possible thing you could ever do and even if you don’t realise it, you can’t go back anyway. Sometimes you go back with someone and it’s different. It’s not a good different and it’s not a bad different but it’s still painful. It’s a “this is what we are now” different. It’s having to hear about their life once a week through a phone call when you used to see them every day and hearing them tell you stories you wish you were in. Sometimes you have to accept that people can come back after they’ve left but it won’t be in the same way. Sometimes you want to go back, so badly, but you can’t. Sometimes it’s not your choice. Sometimes the other person doesn’t want to. That’s probably the worst realisation. You can hope and pray that they’ll go back and you’ll be happy with them again but they won’t change their mind. Sometimes you just can’t make them, no matter how hard you try. Sometimes you’re not allowed to go back and you’re forced to move forward. And sometimes, that isn’t always a bad thing.”