#choice

What I wanted to preserve was the turbulent gasp in his voice which lingered with me for days afterward and told me that, if I could have him like this in my dreams every night of my life, I'd stake my entire life on dreams and be done with the rest. (p. 109) ↗

— André Aciman

#dreams #love-and-loss #unrequited-love #dreams

In order to align your life choices with your values, you will need to inquire about the effects of your actions (and inactions) on yourself and others. Although we are always stumbling upon new knowledge that shifts our choices and life direction, bringing conscious inquiry to life means that we continually ask questions that lead us to the information we need to make thoughtful decisions. Asking questions is liberating because we develop great understanding and discover more choices with our new knowledge. ↗

— Zoe Weil

#education #humane #informed-decisions #liberating #vegan

I thought of how proud he was when he took the marks- cutting the skin of his throat in a long slash and then packing it with ashes until keloid scars rose up. He called it his second smile. ↗

— Holly Black

#family #honor #life #loyalty #mafia

Plant seeds of happiness, hope, success, and love; it will all come back to you in abundance. This is the law of nature. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#action #choice #happiness #hope #inspirational

There are times in my life when I have been medicine for some while poison for others. I used to think I was a victim of my story until I realized the truth that I am the creator of my story. I choose what type of person I will be and what type of impact I will leave on others. I will never choose the destructive path of self and outward victimization again. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#inspirational #life #life-story #medicine #poison

The greatest gift that God has given you next to your very life is the right to choose—your agency. He will guide you, inspire you, but He will never manipulate or coerce you. ↗

— Toni Sorenson

#faith

...by her family circle. That was my phrase, one that could include me by some stretch of the imagination; 'circle' sounded too symmetrical, but it would have to do. ↗

— Emma Donoghue

#family #lesbian #family

Every moment of our lives we make choices. Most we don’t even know we’re making, they’re so dull or routine or automatic. Some are beyond explanation—like my mom choosing Wyatt’s memory over Dad and me. ↗

— Laura Anderson Kurk

#dating #family-relationships #glass-girl #grief #laura-anderson-kurk

HECUBA: I had a knife in my skirt, Achilles. When Talthybius bent over me, I could have killed him. I wanted to. I had the knife just for that reason. Yet, at the last minute I thought, he's some mother's son just as Hector was, and aren't we women all sisters? If I killed him, I thought, wouldn't It be like killing family?Wouldn't it be making some other mother grieve? So I didn't kill him, but if I had, I might have saved Hector's child. Dead or damned, that's the choice we make. Either you men kill us and are honored for it, or we women kill you and are damned for it. Dead or damned. Women don't have to make choices like that in Hades. There is no love there, nothing to betray. ↗

— Sheri S. Tepper

#child #choice #country #dead #dystopia

His ambition was not to become wealthy or to be well known, an image which society for some reason dictates each individual should prescribe to, instead his only ambition was to be at peace with himself, if he could achieve that than anything else he might need would follow. From now on he would question all things in life, but especially the rules and regulations of all authority institutions; he would take nothing on face value and only would accept what he personally knew to undeniably be true. ↗

— Andrew James Pritchard

#choices #freedom-of-expression #inner-peace #questioning-authority #freedom