Declan Ellis

“In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

“But if you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?”
― Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light

“It won’t help you,” said Scott.

“Nothing ever does. That’s why I help myself so frequently.”
― Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings

“It takes a certain amount of courage, he thought, to face yourself and say with candor, I'm rotten. I've done evil and I will again. It was no accident; it emanated from the true, authentic me.”
― Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch