#ay

Absolute certainty is not something I strive for anymore. I've learned the hard way that destiny usually looks upon our most strident convictions with amusement, or perhaps even pity. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#amusement #anymore #certainty #convictions #destiny

Every few years, I think, 'Maybe now I'm finally smart enough or sophisticated enough to understand 'Ulysses.'' So I pick it up and try it again. And by page 10, as always, I'm like, 'What the hell?' ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#always #enough #every #few #finally

Here's the thing: the unit of reverence in Europe is the family, which is why a child born today of unmarried parents in Sweden has a better chance of growing up in a house with both of his parents than a child born to a married couple in America. Here we revere the couple, there they revere the family. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#better #better chance #born #both #chance

I am far more of a loner than people would imagine. But I am the most gregarious and socially interactive loner you ever met. The thing is, I am fascinated by people's stories and I'm very talkative and can't ever say no to anything or anyone, so I tend to over-socialize, to give away too much of my time to the many people I adore. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#am #anyone #anything #away #ever

I love my friends and family, but I also love it when they can't find me and I can spend all day reading or walking all alone, in silence, eight thousand miles away from everyone. All alone and unreachable in a foreign country is one my most favorite possible things to be. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#alone #also #away #country #day

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. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#also #constantly #creates #day #effective

I used to say, 'Man, I think I'd be a really good dad. I'll be a great provider. I'm funny; I'll go on trips with them - I'll do all sorts of stuff.' But the momming? I'm not made for that. I have a really good mom; I know what she put into it. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#funny #go #good #good mom #great

I've always been afraid of saying no to people because I don't want them to be disappointed and dislike me. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#always #because #been #disappointed #dislike

I've always considered myself lucky that I do not have many passions. There's only one pursuit that I have ever truly loved, and that pursuit is writing. This means, conveniently enough, that I never had to search for my destiny; I only had to obey it. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#considered #conveniently #destiny #enough #ever

Listen - of course money changes everything, but so does sunlight, and so does food: These are powerful but neutral energy sources, neither inherently good nor evil but shaped only by the way we use them. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#course #does #energy #energy sources #everything