The thing with pretending you're in a good mood is that sometimes you can actually trick yourself into feeling better.

Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors.

It's not all about getting your own way. Sometimes there's a bigger picture.

We're so quick to cut away pieces of ourselves to suit a particular relationship, a job, a circle of friends, incessantly editing who we are until we fit in.

Why did men worship in churches, locking themselves away in the dark, when the world lay beyond its doors in all its real glory?

You walk around with a negative attitude and you're just naturally going to bring trouble and hard times down on yourself.

Growing up, I'd already decided I wanted to be a beatnik. A Bohemian poet, I thought. Or a musician. Maybe an artist. I'd dress in black turtlenecks and smoke Gitanes. I'd listen to cool jazz in clubs, getting up to read devastating truths from my notebook, leaning against the microphone, cigarette dangling from my hand.