Shashi

“Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“In this world, Daisy, we are tiny. We can’t always win and we can’t always be happy. But the one thing that we can always do is try. There will always be Trashcan Johnsons”—a twitch of a smile crossed Daisy’s face—“ and you can’t change that. But you can change how she makes you feel.”

Daisy wasn't convinced. "How?"

"By climbing this tree with me."

It was the scariest thing Daisy had ever done. But somewhere before they reached the top a strange thing happened. Daisy's fear flew away like feathers in the world. At the bottom of the tree she was tiny, and the tree an invincible giant. At the top, the tree was still huge, but tiny though she was, she had climbed it.”
― Ruth Hogan, The Keeper of Lost Things

“Money can't buy a happy life, or a peaceful death.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

“If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish. If you want to take something, you must first allow it to be given. This is called the subtle perception of the way things are. The soft overcomes the hard. The slow overcomes the fast. Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching