Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes

633 quotes · Author, Memoirist

Page 29 of 50

Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes

All Love Spiritual Creative Philosophical Funny 633 quotes · page 29 of 50

Elizabeth Gilbert

Author, Memoirist

Philosophical

“If we never leave our house except to drive to work, do we need to be even remotely aware of this powerful, humbling, extraordinary and eternal life force that surges and ebbs around us all the time? Apparently not. Because we have stopped paying attention.”

Needs Powerful House

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Elizabeth Gilbert

Author, Memoirist

Spiritual

“I won the argument against the knife that night, but barely. I had some other good ideas around that time--about how jumping off a building or blowing my brains out with a gun might stop the suffering. but something about spending a night with a knife in my hand did it. The next morning I called my friend Susan as the sun came up, begged her to help me. I don't think a woman in the whole history of my family had ever done that before, had ever sat in the middle of the road like that and said, in the middle of her life, "I cannot walk another step further--somebody has to help me.”

Night Morning Gun

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Determined

“I have a rigid self-accountability. You have to work hard.”

Self Hard Work Accountability

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Philosophical

“Who amongst us lives without sacrifice?”

Sacrifice Without Sacrifice

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Wise

“Nothing is so essential as dignity…Time will reveal who has it and who has it not.”

Essentials Dignity

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Lonely

“You are still young, so you think only of your own self. You do not notice the tribulations that occur all around you, to other people. Do not protest; it is true. I am not condemning you. I was as selfish as you, when I was your age. 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.”

People Thinking Selfish

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Determined

“Every day when you wake up, ask yourself, 'What do I really, really, really want? ' You have to say really, really, really, otherwise you won't believe it.”

Believe Want Wake Up

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Anxious

“I push every day against forces that say you have to go faster, be more effective, be more productive, you have to constantly outdo yourself, you have to constantly outdo your neighbor - all of the stuff that creates an incredibly productive society, but also a very neurotic one.”

Stuff Force Neighbor

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Hopeful

“But the very fact that this world is so challenging is exactly why you sometimes must reach out of its jurisdiction for help, appealing to a higher authority in order to find your comfort.”

Order Challenges Comfort

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Angry

“Every try to take a toy away from a toddler? They don't like that, do they? They start kicking and screaming. Best way to take a toy away from a toddler is distract the kid, give him something else to play with. Instead of trying to forcefully take thoughts out of your mind, give your mind something better to play with.”

Giving Play Kids

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Philosophical

“The great Sufi poet and philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for unhappiness. Better to live a life of single-pointed focus, he taught. But what about the benefits of living harmoniously among extremes? What if you could somehow create an expansive enough life that you could synchronize seemingly incongruous opposites into a worldview that excludes nothing?”

Writing Focus Opposites

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Lonely

“I equal parts loved him and could not stand him. I couldn't wake him to share in my distress.”

Share Equal Distress

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