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Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes - Page 10

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I have a lot of trouble forgiving myself for being so dumb... But yes, of course, the big generous compassionate view that you should take of yourself and of all events is: what a glorious circus train this has been,

I have a lot of trouble forgiving myself for being so dumb... But yes, of course, the big generous compassionate view that you should take of yourself and of all events is: what a glorious circus train this has been, and what a wonderful messy parade, and all of those steps took me here, where I precisely need to be now, so God bless it.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Views, Dumb, Forgiving
Interview with Rachel Khong, therumpus.net. October 29, 2012.

The great Sufi poet and philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for unhappiness. Better to live a life of single-pointed focus, he taught. But what about the benefits of living harmoniously among extremes? What if you could somehow create an expansive enough life that you could synchronize seemingly incongruous opposites into a worldview that excludes nothing?

Elizabeth Gilbert
Writing, Opposites, Focus
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.30, Bloomsbury Publishing

Nothing is so essential as dignity…Time will reveal who has it and who has it not.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Essentials, Dignity
Elizabeth Gilbert (2013). “The Signature of All Things”, p.97, A&C Black

A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Love, Heartbreak, Wall
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.157, Bloomsbury Publishing

I equal parts loved him and could not stand him. I couldn't wake him to share in my distress.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Share, Equal, Distress
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.12, Bloomsbury Publishing

I said, "It seems like you have fond feelings toward your ex-wife. Are you two still close?" "Nah," he said casually. "She thinks I changed my name to Motherfucker."

Elizabeth Gilbert
Thinking, Names, Two
"Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia". Book by Elizabeth Gilbert, February 16, 2006.

To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have 4 legs instead of 2. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Humility, Heart, Feet

As far as we know, we are the only species on the planet who have been given the gift-or curse, perhaps-of awareness about our own mortality. Everything here eventually dies; we're just the lucky ones who get to think about this fact every day.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Thinking, Facts, Lucky
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.161, Bloomsbury Publishing

Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship - a play between divine grace and willful self-effort.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Destiny, Self, Play
Elizabeth Gilbert (2010). “The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims”, p.168, A&C Black

I am the planet's most affectionate life-form, something like the cross between a golden retriever and a barnacle.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Golden Retrievers, Crosses, Form

Every woman deserves a man that can make her heart forget that it was ever broken. Even if these have been broken to pieces to me,this represents a person who gave me a complete,flawless heart. I don't need someone who makes my heart whole. Instead, I need someone who will never let me feel broken. This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Heart, Mean, Men

What happens and what you encounter, what you collide with - it's so exciting and revealing about how much more interesting and tricky the universe is than we think in our daily lives.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Thinking, Interesting, Encounters
"Elizabeth Gilbert, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Author, On What It Takes To Get Inspired". Interview with Chantal Pierrat, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 11, 2013.

That is who Barack Obama is - a person of admirable character - and that is who he has remained for me over these last four years. I have not agreed with his every decision, but never once have I seen him break his cool, lose his composure, or abandon his insightful perspective - even during the most serious and/or absurd national disasters.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Character, Years, Perspective
"Leadership Begins With Character" by Elizabeth Gilbert, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 21, 2012.

The little fishing boat anchors right off the shore of Gili Meno. There are no docks here on this island. You have to roll up your pants, jump off the boat and wade in through the surf on your own power. There's absolutely no way to do this without getting soaking wet or even banged up on the coral, but it's worth all the trouble because the beach here is so beautiful, so special

Elizabeth Gilbert
Beautiful, Beach, Islands
Elizabeth Gilbert (2010). “The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims”, p.309, A&C Black

All I could say was, "I don't know what to do." I remember her taking me by the shoulders and looking me in the eye with a calm smile and saying simply, "Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Eye, Calm, Remember
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.99, Bloomsbury Publishing

Here in America, marriage still has a mystical, intangible power: It is a passport to adulthood and respectability and to a certain extent citizenship. Any relationship less than "married" is considered temporary and not worthy of honor.

Elizabeth Gilbert
America, Honor, Married

I think there's more real in the unreal than there is in the real.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Real, Thinking, Unreal
"Elizabeth Gilbert, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Author, On What It Takes To Get Inspired". Interview with Chantal Pierrat, www.huffingtonpost.com. August 11, 2013.

The thing that I do try to convey is, don't do what I did - but ask what I asked.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Trying, Asks
"Elizabeth Gilbert: An Adventurer Travels Back In Time". "Ask Me Another" with Ophira Eisenberg, www.npr.org. January 16, 2014.

The thing I love about Dickens is the omniscient, omnipotent narrator, and the great confidence of the narrator, which marks 19th-century novelists in general and Dickens in particular.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Things I Love, Narrators, Novelists

I'm an enormous product of my century, I'm a product of my upbringing. I was not aware of the fact that I was entering marriage with the highest set of expectations that humans have ever brought to the institution. It was really good to find that out. It doesn't have to be the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the moon and the stars - it can just be the moon. It's enough that it just can be what it is.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Stars, Moon, Expectations
Goodreads Interview, www.goodreads.com. January, 2010.

Marriage is an ongoing, centuries-long social experiment that is mostly controlled by the individuals in the relationships who insist on determining what the relationship terms are going to be. And that's why the terms of marriage change with every century and decade. We're shaping it from the inside. Marriage endures because it evolves. Obviously it does. None of us would accept marriage on its 13th century terms, not even the most conservative people...

Elizabeth Gilbert
Long, People, Doe
Goodreads Interview, www.goodreads.com. January, 2010.

There's a lot of disorder that comes along with wanting to know everything and wanting to try everything and wanting to experience everything, but there's a lot of knowledge that comes out of it too.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Trying, Disorder, Knows
"The Rumpus Interview With Elizabeth Gilbert". Interview with Rachel Khong, therumpus.net. October 29, 2012.

David was catnip and kryptonite to me.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Kryptonite
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.23, Bloomsbury Publishing

Teach your heart that this is destiny

Elizabeth Gilbert
Heart, Destiny, Teach
Elizabeth Gilbert (2009). “Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything”, p.276, Bloomsbury Publishing

I'm afraid many women do choose the wedding over the marriage. It seems a steep price to pay, but it comes from a place of deep, sad longing to be loved and to have it proven that you are of value.

Elizabeth Gilbert
Pay, Longing, Steep

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