a catalyst from words

i have a book full of quotations that i add to whenever others' words strike me as brilliant, poignant, creative, thoughtful, or funny. though i may not be able to see it, i think there might be a theme to all of the quotes in my book; perhaps they say something about my thoughts that i otherwise don't express. maybe they tap into the emotions of my psyche. or maybe they're just random glimmers of inspiration. one day i'll share this collection with my children and explain to them the meaning and stories behind all of the quotations.

i love words and these are just a few of my favorites.


Just don't give up on trying to do what you really want to do.
Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.
~ Ella Fitzgerald

It takes courage to grow up & turn out to be who you really are. Sometimes we have to let go to make room for better things to come our way.
- EE Cummings

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”
~Epictetus quotes

"You cannot be anything you want to be---But you CAN be a lot more of who you already are!"

“If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: ‘He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’”
~Epictetus

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
~Billy, 4 years old

"Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do it."
~Frances Hesselbein

"Family is a way of holding hands with forever."
~Nora Ben Shea

"Music is the study of the invisible relationships between internal objects."
~Ancient Greeks

"If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down."
~Ray Bradbury