Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency.

We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Maya Angelou

The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.

Michel de Montaigne

What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?

Ralph Ellison

A bouquet of clumsy words: you know that place between sleep and awake where you’re still dreaming but it’s slowly slipping? I wish we could feel like that more often. I also wish I could click my fingers three times and be transported to anywhere I like. I wish that people didn’t always say ‘just wondering’ when you both know there was a real reason behind them asking. And I wish I could get lost in the stars.

e.e. cummings

I want to feel both the beauty and the pain of the age we are living in. I want to survive my life without becoming numb. I want to speak and comprehend words of wounding without having these words become the landscape where I dwell. I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of stars.

Terry Tempest Williams