But recently, now, I was starting to feel that you couldn’t do mathematics with emotions. In protecting yourself from hurt you could create a new, subtler type of pain.—Matt Haig, How to Stop Time. Highlighted
... A peck on the lips was not just a peck. ‘What was that for?’ I asked. I could just about see her smile in the moonlight. It wasn’t a flirtatious smile. It was a plain, matter-of-fact one. ‘For you to have something else to occupy your mind.’ ‘I am not sure I have ever met someone like you,’ I said.—Matt Haig, How to Stop Time. Highlighted
I looked at her for too long, and with too much intensity in my eyes. The way people never look at people any more. I wanted her in every sense. To want is to lack. That is what it means.—Matt Haig, How to Stop Time. Highlighted
We expect others to be honest and open with their intentions, especially romantically, but how many people are we keeping on the back burner?—Brianna Wiest, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think. Highlighted
When was the last time you leapt out of your comfort zone to tell someone you care about them? When was the last time you definitively asked someone on a date?—Brianna Wiest, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think. Highlighted
Do you assume other people are doing you a favor by giving you love and spending time with you? Do you ever think about the fact that they likely are just as hungry for love?—Brianna Wiest, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think. Highlighted
Fake kindness isn’t worth it. It makes the world worse.—Brianna Wiest, 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think. Highlighted
I lean into this stranger, seeking primitive comfort— heat, touch, breath—as we slip into the ancient vulnerability of sleep.—Ellen Bass, Mules of love. Highlighted
Sometimes the point is to be sad, August. Sometimes you just have to feel it because it deserves to be felt.—Casey McQuiston, One Last Stop. Highlighted
I could feel his breath, his heart, which was beating too hard and too fast for him to be sleeping.—Hazel Hayes, Better by Far. Highlighted
I have the solipsistic sense that my own inner world, and not Tarkovsky’s, is being projected up there for everyone to see.—Hazel Hayes, Better by Far. Highlighted
When talking with people, ask deep open-ended questions — like “What’s your biggest regret?” — that will lead to unexpected stories.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
When you’re really learning, you’ll feel stupid and vulnerable — like a hermit crab between shells.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
Practice being uncomfortable, even in small ways. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Skip eating for a day, or sugar for a month. Go light-weight camping for a week. Befriend discomfort so that you’ll never fear it.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
No matter how honest you are, there’s always more honest.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
Invite your dream date to dinner. While everyone else is nervously preparing, you jump right in, unafraid to fail.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
If you have feelings for someone, and you don’t let that person know, you’re lying with your silence. Be direct. It saves so much trouble and regret.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
When you’ve finished a work, wait a while before you release it to the world. By then, you’re on to something new. The public comments won’t affect you, since they will be about your past work.—Derek Sivers, How to Live. Highlighted
Anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.—John Green, Turtles All the Way Down. Highlighted
The key to well-being is shared humanity, even though we are pushing further and further toward separation.—Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing. Highlighted
