Stephanie

“When I am stuck in a book, the feeling is similar. I ask myself what is supposed to happen now. Why is this wrong? Why is what I am writing about this character a lie? How is it possible to lie in fiction? Believe me, it is. When I find the truth I know it. What is that knowing? It is not theoretical. It is emotional. The sentence on the page feels right because it answers a feeling in me, and that feeling is a form of remembering. Art is always made for someone else. That someone is not a known person. She or he has no face, but art is never made in isolation. When I write, I am always speaking to someone, and the book is made between me and that imaginary other.”
― Siri Hustvedt, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women: Essays on Art, Sex, and the Mind

“Being grateful all the time isn’t easy. But it’s when you feel least thankful
that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: perspective.
Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration, moving you
from negative energy to positive. It’s the quickest, easiest, most powerful
way to effect change in your life—this I know for sure.”
― Oprah Winfrey, What I Know for Sure

“What I know for sure is that every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and step out and dance—to live free of regret and filled with as much joy, fun, and laughter as you can stand. You can either waltz boldly onto the stage of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall, receding into the shadows of fear and self-doubt.”
― Oprah Winfrey, What I Know For Sure

“Nothing but uncertainty is certain. Circumstances come together, only to fall apart moments or months later. And then, in a flash, we must rise up and regain our footing. In the rearview mirror, I now see so clearly what escaped me then: It’s not that the ground underneath me was suddenly shifting; it’s that it is never still. That’s part of the work of my journey—getting comfortable with life’s groundlessness.”
― Alicia Keys, More Myself: A Journey