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Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes

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Famous Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes

“Your home is whatever in this world you love more than you love yourself. So that might be creativity, family, invention, adventure, faith, service, it might be raising corgies, I don't know - Your home is that thing to which you can dedicate your energies with such singular devotion that the ultimate results become inconsequential.”

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Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“I decide every day that I love Creativity enough to accept that Fear will always come with it. And I talk to Fear all the time, speaking to it with love and respect, saying to it: “I know that you are Fear, and that your job is to be afraid. And you do your job really well! I will never ask you to leave me alone or to be silent, because you have a right to speak your own voice, and I know that you will never leave me alone or be silent, anyhow. But I need you to understand that I will always choose Creativity over you.”

KnowsNeedsWellsEnoughJobsAsksSpeakVoiceAcceptingCreativitySilentOver YouLeaving MeNeed YouMe AloneLove And RespectI Need YouLeave Me AloneNever Leave Me
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“I think it's wonderful when a love story begins with a great deal of romance and affection, passion and excitement, that's how it should be. But I don't necessarily know that it's the wisest thing in the world to expect that it ends there, or that it should, 30 years down the road, still look as it did on the night of your first kiss.”

ThinkingKnowsWorldShouldYearsFirstsLooksStillsEndsStoriesRomanceNightPassionDealsWonderfulKissingAffectionLove StoryExcitementWisestDown The RoadFirst KissMy First Kiss
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“As somebody who, in my second marriage, insisted on a prenuptial agreement, I can also testify that sometimes it is an act of love to chart the exit strategy before you enter the union, in order to make sure that not only you, but your partner as well, knows that there will be no World War III should hearts and minds, for any sad reason, change.”

KnowsWorldShouldMindWellsHeartI CanWarSometimesReasonOrderStrategyUnionsPartnersWar Of The WorldsAgreementHeart And MindExitActs Of LoveSecond Marriage
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“You know, it’s the same thing as the question of free will and destiny, the question of creativity - you, the artist, you’re not the puppet of the piano, you’re not the puppet of the muse, but you’re not its master, either. It’s a relationship, it’s a conversation, and all it wants is to be treated with respect and dignity - and it will return ten thousand times over.”

KnowsWantArtistCreativityDestinyMastersReturnThousandTenConversationDignityTreatedPianoFree WillMusePuppetsDignity And Respect
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“There was really only one person who - and I remember to this day - he was a fireman, and he said, "You'll never know what you'll do when you're in a fire." Everyone else was like: "I don't care; I would have saved my children; I could have done it. Even if I was asleep I would have woken up and saved my children." But the fireman said, "You never know what's going to happen unless you're in there."”

IfsKnowsChildrenPersonsSaidDoneHappensCareRememberFireDon't CareSavedI Don't CareMy ChildrenThis DayFireman
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“Todd's mother had several children by different fathers, and Todd [Willingham] had been abandoned in California. ... He's a good-looking man. He was a witty man, you know? Funny, caring. He wasn't arrogant, but he was kind of set in his ways. If he thought something, it was one way. You could show him an alternative, but he was still going to stick by his particular view. But I could see how to women he could be a very charming, good-looking guy, especially when he was younger.”

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Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“I promised Todd [Willingham] that I would attend the execution. ... It was impossible for me to go. I was incapable of that sort of travel. Sitting in a chair that long, driving to Huntsville just wouldn't have happened. ... I'm sure I would have been there. It's something I know. I would not have denied him that, but the accident kept me from being there. At some level, the universe was giving me the excuse for not being there. ... The universe was like, "Oh, you don't have to watch this." ... It would have been a horrible thing, but I'm sure I would have gone.”

KnowsGivingLongHas BeensUniverseLevelsWatchesGoneImpossibleHappenedSittingExcuseAccidentsDrivingHorribleChairsDeniedExecutionIncapableBeing ThereHorrible ThingsSitting In A Chair
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“I see women who have this struggle between what they know is right, what they know is necessary, what they know is healthy, what they know is good for them, what they know is good for the work that they need to do, what they know is good for their bodies, what they know is good for their families - all too often ending that statement with the upturned question mark: "If it's okay with everyone?" Still asking, still requesting, still filing petitions for somebody to say that it's all right.”

IfsKnowsNeedsStillsBodyStruggleHealthyOkayMarkAskingStatementsPetitionsFilingQuestion Mark
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“When you're lost in those woods, it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you are lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit that you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises anymore.”

KnowsWayLifeStillsIdeasSometimesMomentsNightFallLostRealizingSunPathInspireDepressionWoodsNo IdeaConvinceWhere You AreAgain And AgainBewilderedPray LoveEat Pray Love BookEat Pray And LoveSun RiseEat Love PrayBali Eat Pray Love
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“I have my own set of survival techniques. I am patient. I know how to pack light. But my one might travel talent is that I can make friends with anybody. I can make friends with the dead. If there isn’t anyone else around to talk to, I could probably make friends with a four-foot-tall pile of sheetrock. That is why I’m not afraid to travel to the most remote places in the world, not if there are human beings there to meet. People asked me before I left, “do you have friends [there]?’ and I would just shake my head no, thinking to myself, But I will.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldHumansI CanLightMightLeftMy OwnHuman BeingsKnow HowFourFeetTalentSurvivalPatientTechniqueShakesTallNot AfraidPacksBeing TherePlaces In The WorldRemote Places
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“Go back to bed', said the omniscient interior voice, because you don't need to know the final answer right now, at three o'clock in the morning on the Thursday in November. 'Go back to bed', because I love you. 'Go back to bed', beacause the only thing you need to do for now is get some rest and take good care of yourself until you do know the answer.”

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Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have 4 legs instead of 2. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.”

KnowsWorldWayWantLooksHeartEarthFeetHumilityLike YouBalanceLegsGroundedKnowing GodPray LoveEat Pray Love BookEat Pray And LoveBest Eat Pray LoveEat Love PrayBali Eat Pray LovePride And Humility
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“When Catherine told me about this (tragedy nearby), I could only say, shocked, "Dear God, that family needs grace." She replied firmly, "That family needs casseroles," and then proceeded to organize the entire neighborhood into bringing that family dinner, in shifts, every single night, for an entire year. I do not know if my sister fully recognizes that this _is_ grace.”

IfsKnowsNeedsYearsNightGraceTragedyDearDinnerNeighborhoodMy SisterOrganizeShockedDear GodFamily DinnerCasseroles
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“It was like time would stop, and the dancer would sort of step through some kind of portal and he wasn't doing anything different than he had ever done, 1,000 nights before, but everything would align. And all of a sudden, he would no longer appear to be merely human. He would be lit from within, and lit from below and all lit up on fire with divinity. And when this happened, back then, people knew it for what it was, you know, they called it by it's name. They would put their hands together and they would start to chant, "Allah, Allah, Allah, God God, God." That's God, you know.”

PeopleKnowsHumansKindDifferentDoneHandsWould BeTogetherNightNamesStepsFireHappenedDancerDivinityLitPortalHands Together
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the Greek stoic philosopher Epictetus: 'You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not.”

KnowsRealizingLinesPoorBearsDespairNotionPhilosopherGreekWithin YouStoicYogi
Book:The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims
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“I still can’t say whether I ever want children….I can only say how I feel now--grateful to be on my own. I also know that I won’t go forth and have children just in case I might regret missing it later in life; I don’t think this is a strong enough motivation to bring more babies onto the earth.”

ThinkingKnowsWantFeelsChildrenStillsI CanEnoughMightEarthMotivationStrongMy OwnCasesMissingRegretBabyGratefulStrong EnoughLater In LifeMissing It
Book:Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything
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“With each reunion (we) had to learn each other all over again. There was always that nervous moment at the airport when I would stand there waiting for him to arrive, wondering, Will I still know him? Will he still know me?”

KnowsStillsMomentsWaitingWonderNervousKnow MeAirportsReunion
Book:The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims
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“When you have only two minutes to say good-bye to the person you love most in the world, and you don’t know when you’ll see each other again, you can become logjammed with the effort to say and do and settle everything at once.”

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Book:The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims
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“I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.”

KnowsHappinessSufferingSpaceSurprisePray LoveEat Pray Love BookEat Pray And LoveBest Eat Pray LoveEat Love PrayBali Eat Pray LoveUnknown FutureChoosing HappinessFuture Is Bright
Book:The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims
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“He is only happy when he can maintain himself - mentally and spiritually - at the intersection between a vertical line and horizontal one, in a state of perfect balance. For this, he needs to know where he is located every moment, both in his relationship to the divine and to his family here on earth. If he loses that balance, he loses his power.”

IfsKnowsNeedsStatesMomentsEarthLosesLinesPerfectDivineBalanceIntersectionsVerticalHorizontalPerfect Balance
Book:Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything
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“We all seem to get this idea that, in order to be sacred, we have to make some massive, drastic change of character, that we have to renounce our individuality. To know God, you only need to renounce one thing - your sense of division from God”

KnowsNeedsIdeasCharacterSeemsOrderOne ThingSacredIndividualityMassiveDivisionKnowing GodRenounceDrasticDrastic Change
Book:The Complete Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love; Committed; The Last American Man; Stern Men & Pilgrims
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“But he [Depression] just gives me that dark smile, settles into my favorite chair, puts his feet on my table and lights a cigar, filling the place with his awful smoke. Loneliness watches and sighs, then climbs into my bed and pulls the covers over himself, fully dressed, shoes and all. He's going to make me sleep with him again tonight, I just know it.”

KnowsGivingLightDarkSleepWatchesFeetLonelinessBedGive MeTablesShoesMy FavoriteAwfulSmokeSettlingClimbsChairsTonightSighFillingCigar
Book:Eat Pray Love: One Woman's Search for Everything
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“Soon you start craving that intense attention with the hungry obsession of any junkie. When the drug is withheld you probably turn sick, crazy and depleted not to mention resentful of the dealer who encourage this addiction in the first place but who now refuses to pony up the good stuff anymore despite that you know that he has it hidden somewhere God dammit because you know that he used to give it to you for free.”

KnowsGivingFirstsUsedTurnsStuffAttentionCrazyDrugSickAddictionRefuseHungryIntenseObsessionDespiteCravingDealerJunkiePoniesEat Pray Love BookResentful
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“Once Henry had heard a crying noise at sea, and had seen a mermaid floating on the ocean's surface. The mermaid had been injured by a shark. Henry had pulled the mermaid out of the water with a rope, and she had died in his arms..."what language did the mermaid speak?" Alma wanted to know, imagining that it like almost have to be Greek. "English!" Henry said. "By God, plum, why would I rescue a deuced foreign mermaid?”

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Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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“Astonishingly, at some point, a sputtering torch was thrust into her hands. Alma did not see who gave it to her. She had never before been entrusted with fire. The torch spit sparks and sent chunks of flaming tar spinning into the air behind her as she bolted across the cosmos-the only body in the heavens who was not held to a strict elliptical path. Nobody stopped her. She was a comet. She did not know that she was not flying.”

KnowsBodyHandsHeavenBehindsPathFireAirFlyingCosmosSparksStrictSpinningThrustSpitTorchesChunksComets
Book:The Signature of All Things
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“You know, I think that allowing somebody, one mere person to believe that he or she is like, the vessel you know, like the font and the essence and the source of all divine, creative, unknowable, eternal mystery is just a smidge too much responsibility to put on one fragile, human psyche. It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun.”

ThinkingKnowsBelieveHumansPersonsResponsibilitySunCreativeToo MuchMysteryDivineSourceEternalEssenceAskingMereAllowingFragileVesselHuman PsycheFonts
Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
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