Stephanie Smith

“I always thought I'd get farther. I'd like to blame the world for what I've failed to do, but the failure - the failure that sometimes washes over me as anger, makes me so angry I could spit - is all mine, in the end. What made my obstacles insurmountable, what consigned me to mediocrity, is me, just me. I thought for so long, forever, that I was strong enough -- or I misunderstood what strength was.”
― Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs

“Getting drunk was good. I decided that I would always like getting drunk. It took away the obvious and maybe if you could get away from the obvious often enough, you wouldn't become so obvious yourself.”
― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

“Don't you think it's better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life?”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

“I don't want you to wake up at sixty-five and realize, 'I spend forty of my best years doing something that just funded my life.”
― Jonathan Acuff, Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job