Cynthia

“I have missed it my little Chinese book. Forty-four. What is more important, fame or integrity. What is more valuable, money or happiness. What is more dangerous, success or failure. If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy. Be content with what you have and take joy in the way things are. When you realize you have all you need, the World belongs to you. Thirty-six. If you want to shrink something, you must first expand it. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must allow it to be given. The soft will overcome the hard. The slow will beat the fast. Don’t tell people the way, just show them the results. Seventy-four. If you understand that all things change constantly, there is nothing you will hold on to, all things change. If you aren’t afraid of dying, there is nothing you can’t do. Trying to control the future is like trying to take the place of the Master Carpenter. When you handle the Master Carpenter’s tools, chances are that you’ll cut your hand. Thirty-three. Knowing other people is intelligence, knowing yourself is wisdom. Mastering other people is strength, mastering yourself is power. If you realize that what you have is enough, you are rich truly rich. Stay in the center and embrace peace, simplicity, patience and compassion. Embrace the possibility of death and you will endure. Embrace the possibility of life and you will endure. This little book feeds me. It feeds me food I didn’t know existed, feeds me food I wanted to taste, and have never tasted before, food that will nourish me and keep me full and keep me alive. I read it and it feeds me. It lets me see what my life is in simple terms, it simply is what it is, and I can deal with my life on those terms. It is not complicated unless I make it so. It is not difficult unless I allow it to be. A second is no more than a second, a minute no more than a minute, a day no more than a day. They pass. All things and all time will pass. Don’t force or fear, don’t control or lose control. Don’t fight and don’t stop fighting. Embrace and endure. If you embrace, you will endure.”
― James Frey, A Million Little Pieces

“Oh I’ll ask it but I am far from done with you.’ I don’t say anything else. I just sit there and patiently wait for him to ask his question, whatever it may be. And, with Billy-Ray, it really could be a “whatever”. This is not the first time we have had a conversation and I am sure it will not be the last despite my wishes that it would be. ‘When you talk of the deaths in the book of yours that you write, will you include the ones you are to blame for or will you gloss over those and continue to paint yourself as the true professional people believe you to be?”
― Matt Shaw, Nightmares

“When truth be told, if she ever had time to think about it, she wasn’t sure if she was even that enthusiastic a fan of God anymore. He seemed to have dropped the ball a long time ago.”
― Liane Moriarty, The Husband's Secret

“Oh I’ll ask it but I am far from done with you.’ I don’t say anything else. I just sit there and patiently wait for him to ask his question, whatever it may be. And, with Billy-Ray, it really could be a “whatever”. This is not the first time we have had a conversation and I am sure it will not be the last despite my wishes that it would be.”
― Matt Shaw, Nightmares