Nadya > Nadya's Quotes

“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

“Compassion is not a virtue -- it is a commitment. It's not something we have or don't have -- it's something we choose to practice.”
― Brené Brown, I Thought It Was Just Me: Women Reclaiming Power and Courage in a Culture of Shame

“...love is a skill, not just an enthusiasm.”
― Alain de Botton, The Course of Love

“We don't need to be constantly reasonable in order to have good relationships; all we need to have mastered is the occasional capacity to acknowledge with good grace that we may, in one or two areas, be somewhat insane.”
― Alain de Botton, The Course of Love

“Worrying about scarcity is our culture's version of post-traumatic stress. It happens when we've been through too much, and rather than coming together to heal (which requires vulnerability) we're angry and scared and at each other's throats.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“Everyone wants to know why customer service has gone to hell in a handbasket. I want to know why customer behavior has gone to hell in a handbasket.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“Those who feel lovable, who love, and who experience belonging simply believe they are worthy of love and belonging. I often say that Wholeheartedness is like the North Star: We never really arrive, but we certainly know if we're headed in the right direction.”
― Brene Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“Perhaps the world is not as a simple a place as I would like it to be. No one is following any of the principles that they are supposed to.”
― Imran Ahmad, The Perfect Gentleman: A Muslim Boy Meets the West

“I mention to him that I am fasting, but planning to take a day off. He cautions me to think about this very carefully. "If you take a day off, you'll have a day's guilty pleasure, which won't last long. But if you keep all thirty fasts, imagine how happy you will feel. What an achievement that will be.”
― Imran Ahmad, The Perfect Gentleman: A Muslim Boy Meets the West

“Without love--what are we, what have we? Throughout the world, absolute certainty, righteousness, and outrage have completely displaced love and compassion. So, although we all know that we are right, where are we without love?”
― Imran Ahmad, The Perfect Gentleman: A Muslim Boy Meets the West

“It's such a difficult lesson to understand that someone can be wrong in theory and yet right in practice--because we want the world to be black and white, right and wrong, us and them.”
― Imran Ahmad, The Perfect Gentleman: A Muslim Boy Meets the West

“You are not responsible for your parents’ happiness. Your first priority is your own happiness. Whether your parents choose to be happy or not is entirely up to them. But you cannot make your parents happy by making yourself unhappy—that ultimately destroys everyone’s happiness. This is a lesson your parents may still need to learn, despite their advanced years. Life is a great opportunity, and your personal happiness and fulfillment—however these are defined—are both the journey and the destination. Use your brain, but listen to your heart. Once you’ve balanced the two, you’re all set. (I’m still trying to achieve this, but at least I don’t deny my intuition anymore.)”
― Imran Ahmad, The Perfect Gentleman: A Muslim Boy Meets the West

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“The best apologies are short, and don't go on to include explanations that run the risk of undoing them. An apology isn't the only chance you ever get to address the underlying issue. The apology is the chance you get to establish the ground for future communication. This is an important and often overlooked distinction.”
― Harriet Lerner, Why Won’t You Apologize?: Healing Big Betrayals and Everyday Hurts

“When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone. They can come back to you, even at unlikely times.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“When you look into your mother’s eyes, you know that is the purest love you can find on this earth.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“One day spent with someone you love can change everything.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“Sharing tales of those we've lost is how we keep from really losing them.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“Going back to something is harder than you think.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“It's such a shame to waste time. We always think we have so much of it.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“I love you every day. And now I will miss you every day.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“Secrets tear you apart.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“The more you defend a lie, the angrier you become.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“When you're rotten about yourself, you become rotten to everyone else, even those
you love.”
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

“These aren’t personal questions. They are human questions,”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Option B

“Avoiding feelings isn’t the same as protecting feelings.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Option B

“Let me fall if I must fall. The one I become will catch me.” Slowly,”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy

“Deep in my heart I know I am a loner. I have tried to blend in with the world and be sociable, but the more people I meet the more disappointed I am, so I’ve learned to enjoy myself, my family and a few good friends.”
― Steven Aitchison