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Quote by Sally Rooney

“...he felt the old beat of pleasure inside his body, like watching a perfect goal, like the rustling movement of light through leaves, a phrase of music from the window of a passing car. Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything.”

Quote by Sally Rooney

Work

Normal People

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Author

Sally Rooney

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“I looked at the eyes of the ghosts sitting around the fire and at Beeta, and suddenly I realized that we Dead are the sorrowful side of life, while the Living are the joyful side of death. And yet, Beeta was not joyful. It was the sad side of life that she didn't even know she should be joyful in life because that was the essence of life. I wanted to tell her this, but was afraid of bringing her damaged spirit down even further.”

“If you had caught me in a quiet moment, when [...] stimuli weren’t bombarding me, [and asked me how I was feeling] I would have responded [...]: Something’s not right. I feel unsettled. Everything feels like the same old, same old. Something is missing. [...] I saw that all of my perceived happiness was really just a reaction to stimuli in the external world that made me feel certain ways. I then understood that I was totally addicted to my environment, and I was dependent on external cues to reinforce my emotional addiction. What a moment for me. I had heard a million times that happiness comes from within, but it never hit me like this before [...] Staying busy keeps unwanted emotions at bay. [...] But when we never overcome our limitations and continue carrying the baggage from our past, it will always catch up with us. [...] [People may try to make all sorts of external environmental changes in] futile efforts to do or try something new so that they can feel better or different. But emotionally, when the novelty wears off, they are still stuck with the same identity. [...] When we keep that diversion up, guess what eventually happens? We grow more dependent on something outside of us to change us internally. [...] Nothing outside of us can ever make us happy. [...] Nothing in our environment is going to “fix” the way we feel. [...] Let go of the façade, the games, and the illusions. [...] Happiness comes from within. [...] Once you change your internal state, you don’t need the external world to provide you with a reason to feel joy, gratitude, appreciation, or any other elevated emotion.”