things i love #25

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Quotes.

When I was thirteen, my godfather bought me a most enchanted book. He had bought it from the night markets in Brisbane, where he lived, and it was a notebook which had a papier-mâché face on the front that seemed to sprout out of the cover - a wizened face, crinkly and full of character, with beady eyes, smile lines, pursed lips and a giant nose - which was what I used to pull the book open!

This book lay empty for about a year while I decided what to do with it. It seemed far too special to just write my diary in. One day I realised what I wanted to use it for - I had a grotty old notebook that I used to copy down poems I liked, or quotes. Perhaps it would be more fitting to write down things that were meaningful to me in this special book. So that's what I did. I was an incredibly sentimental young thing - probably more suited to living in the Edwardian era really - and copied down things I liked, sometimes drawing pictures to go with them. While I still used it as a poem collection book, slowly I just started writing down quotes that were meaningful to me, that made something in my head click, that made me think yes.

The book is now somewhere in my parents garage....I'd love to find it again.

I'm still a collector of quotes today. These days they tend to be saved in word documents marked "inspiring" or copied down in large, loopy me-trying-to-be-artistic letters in my journal. There are so many I love, but these are some of my favourites - either hoarded and remembered for years that I have turned to in dark times, or recent favourites (Megg always has some gems!) or some that just make me laugh.

These are a few of my favourites:

“…like attracts like: If you want the real deal, you have to become the real deal yourself.” – Sera Beak

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

- Marilyn Monroe

"When you really want to do something, in your heart of hearts, you will find a way. But if you don't really want to do something, you will always find an excuse."

- Pat Farmer, Australian ultra marathon runner & MP

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

- George Eliot

"I would rather be ashes than dust." - Jack London

"Family. Religion. Friendship.

These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business."

- C. Montgomery Burns

"Freedom... means knowing who you are, what you are supposed to be doing

on this earth, and then simply doing it."

- Natalie Goldberg

"I can't be sacked, you see, because I haven't got a job.

Therefore, I'll continue to say whatever I like."

- Harold Pinter

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart,

I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

— Maya Angelou

What's your favourite quote? Please share :)