To live in this world you must be able to do three things:
—Mary Oliver
To love what is mortal;
To hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it;
and when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
Grief
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Category Archives: Quotes
Two Beers and a Puppy
In order to find out how you actually feel about someone, ask yourself, “Would I have two beers with this person?” And: “Would I allow this person to look after my puppy over a weekend?”
Some people are no and no. These people are to be avoided at all costs. Some people are yes and no. These people are to be cautiously trusted. Some people are no and yes. These people are no fun but they make the world a better place—for puppies, especially. And some people are yes and yes. These people are wonderful people and your life and work are better for having them in your life. Seek them out. Collaborate with them. Enjoy their company.
Ross McCammon, Works Well with Others: An Outsider’s Guide to Shaking Hands, Shutting Up, Handling Jerks, and Other Crucial Skills in Business That No One Ever Teaches You
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Death
“When we look at the ocean, we see that each wave has a beginning and an end. A wave can be compared with other waves, and we can call it more or less beautiful, higher or lower, longer lasting or less long lasting. But if we look more deeply, we see that a wave is made of water. While living the life of a wave, the wave also lives the life of water. It would be sad if the wave did not know that it is water. It would think, ‘Some day, I will have to die. This period of time is my life span, and when I arrive at the shore, I will return to nonbeing.’ These notions will cause the wave fear and anguish. We have to help it remove the notions of self, person, living being, and life span if we want the wave to be free and happy.”
Thích Nhất Hạnh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
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Avoiding difficulty
American culture does not take well to the idea of difficulty. Our penchant is for one-step, one-stop solutions to problems, and we expect and demand in all areas of life, including reading, an ease of achievement that is antithetical to thought itself. —Helen Regueiro Elam
Source: “The Difficulty of Reading” in The Idea of Difficulty in Literature.
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Entrepreneurship is not easy
Entrepreneurship is not cool, it’s not sexy and it’s totally uncomfortable. It’s boring and grueling, and that part is never part of the movie. —Eric Ries
Source: The Danger of Celebritizing Entrepreneurship
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The scientific study of man is the most difficult of all branches of knowledge. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Source: The Poet at the Breakfast Table, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Chapter XI
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From the moment I picked up your book
“From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend to read it.” —Groucho Marx
Source: The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor, February 1, 2012
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Love and loneliness
“I can love you because I want to feel less alone, or I can love you because I want you to feel less alone. But only the latter requires me to imagine a consciousness independent of my own, and equally real.”
—Garth Risk Hallberg, “Why Write Novels at All?“, The New York Times
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Choosing who may judge you
“It was while I was at interview that I finally noticed that subjecting myself to the judgement of an institution which I fundamentally disagreed with was bizarre.” —Elly Nowell, commenting on the rejection letter she sent the University of Oxford
Source: Magdalen Oxford gets rejection letter from student, BBC News
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The definition of entrepreneurship
“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” —Howard Stevenson
Source: What’s an entrepreneur? The best answer ever
Victor A. Barger 