“ This is very American, too - the insecurity about whether we have earned our happiness. Planet Advertising in America orbits completely around the need to convince the uncertain consumer that yes, you… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ They flank me - depression on my left, loneliness on my right. They don't need to show their badges. I know these guys very well. ... Then they frisk me. They empty my pockets of any joy I had been ca… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ There's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint,'Dear saint-please, please, please...give me the grace to win the lotter… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ There was a place within my imagination so fathomlessly deep that the light of the real world could never touch it. Nothing but sex had ever been able to reach it. This place within me was prehuman, a… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? And Who’s in charge? Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Then there was a pop-surprise bonus side order brought over by the waitress for free—a serving of fried zucchini blossoms with a soft dab of cheese in the middle (prepared so delicately that the bloss… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ The trick at every turn was to endure the test of living for as long as possible. The odds of survival were punishingly slim, for the world was naught but a school of calamity and an endless burning f… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ The great Sufi poet and philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are de… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ That’s the thing about a human life-there’s no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed. Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Take an honest inventory of the education you already have—the years you have lived, the trials you have endured, the skills you have learned along the way. If you are a young person, open your eyes w… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ So this was the Ashram's final joke on me? Once I had learned to accept my loud, chatty, social nature and fully embrace my inner Key Hostess - only then could I become The Quiet Girl in the Back of t… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ She was paying me the compliment of her undivided attention, and thus I was instantly smitten. Elizabeth Gilbert
“ She stopped feeling like she was nothing more than a consumer, nothing more than the sum of her daily obligations and duties. Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Saint anthony once wrote about having gone into the desert on silent retreat and being assaulted by all manner of visions-devils and angels, both. He said, in his solitude, he sometimes encountered de… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Religion is for those who don't want to go to hell, and spirituality is for those who have already been there. Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Perfectionism is a particularly evil lure for women, who, I believe, hold themselves to an even higher standard of performance than do men. There are many reasons why women’s voices and visions are no… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you… Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Our relationship now thoroughly ruined, with even civility destroyed between us, all I wanted anymore was the door. Elizabeth Gilbert
“ Om Namah Shivaya.I honor the divinity that resides within me....I repeat it again. Again. And again. It's not so much that I'm meditating as unpacking the mantra carefully, the way you would unpack yo… Elizabeth Gilbert
