Yuri

“And I feel I have something very serious and urgent to say to
you, my non-existent reader, and I feel I should say it as urgently
as if I were standing in the room with you. That life—whatever
else it is—is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That
Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn’t mean we
have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we’re not always
so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway:
wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping
eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise
from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is
a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch.”
― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch

“You will be happiest when you’re on your own adventure. Not Analea’s, not whoever you’re dating, not everyone who thinks you should do what you’re supposed to do—yours.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“It’s easier like that, isn’t it? [...] Never showing anyone who you really are. [...] That way if something goes wrong, if someone rejects you, then it’s not about you, is it? When you’re yourself, that’s when you’re exposed. Vulnerable.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“You're going to realize it one day-- that happiness was never about your job or your degree or being in a relationship. Happiness was never about following in the footsteps of all of those who came before you; it was never about being like the others.

One day, you're going to see it-- that happiness was always about the discovery, the hope, the listening to your heart and following it wherever it chose to go. Happiness was always about being kinder to yourself; it was always about embracing the person you were becoming.

One day, you will understand that happiness was always about learning how to live with yourself, that your happiness was never in the hands of others. It was always about you. It was always about you.”
― Bianca Sparacino, The Strength In Our Scars