Mitch albom
Tuesdays with Morrie
"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do."
"Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it."
"Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others."
"Don't assume that it's too late to get involved."
"Ted, when all this started, i asked myself, `Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I'm going to live - or at least try to live - the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure."
"Dying is only one things to be sad over, Mitch. Living unhappily is something else. So many of the people who come to visit me are unhappy." Why?
"Well, for one thing, the culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. We're teaching the wrong things. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. Create your own. most people can't do it. They're more unahppy than me - even in my current condition."
"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote youtself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."
"You se, you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - even when you're in the dark. Even when you are falling."
"Mitch, the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just ot keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this al? Is this all I want? Is something missing?" - about regret
"The truth is, Mitch, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
"Love each other or perish. It's good, no? And it's so true. Without love, we are birds with broken wings."
"You know what the Buddhists say? Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent."
"Mitch, I embrace aging." Embrace it?
"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more to die, and that you live a better life because of it."
"You have to find out what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue."
"Fate succumbs many a species: one alone jeopardises itself." W.H. Auden, Morrie's favourite poet
"Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have."
"The truth is, you don't get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?" What?
"Offering others what you have to give."
"Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."
"In this culture, it's so important to find a loving relationship with someone because so much of the culture does not give you that. But the poor kids today, either they're too selfish to take part in a real loving relationship, or they rush into marriage and then six months later, they get divorced. They don't know what they want in a partner. They don't know who they are themselves - so how can they know who they're marrying?"
"Be compassionate. And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place."
Sigh "There is no formula to relationships. They have to be negotiated in loving ways, with room for both parties, what they want and what they need, what they can do and what their life is like."
"In business, people negotiate to win. They negotiate to get what they want. Maybe you're too used to that. Love is different. Love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
"No life is a waste," The Blue Man said. "The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."
"Edward," Ruby said softly. "Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. but hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."
Marguerite: Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens, Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.
Tala: Not her hands. My hands. I bring you to heaven. Keep you safe.