I never promised the universe that I would write brilliantly; I only promised the universe that I would write.
Elizabeth GilbertThe Silly Putty-like malleability of the institution [marriage], in fact, is the only reason we still have the thing at all. Very few people... would accept marriage on it's thirteenth-century terms. Marriage survives, in other words, precisely because it evolves. (Though I suppose this would not be a very persuasive argument to those who probably also don't believe in evolution).
Elizabeth GilbertI'm not a big Austen reader. I wouldn't say I dislike her, but if I had to choose between her and Eliot to bring to a desert island, it would definitely be Eliot.
Elizabeth GilbertWhen you have only two minutes to say good-bye to the person you love most in the world, and you donโt know when youโll see each other again, you can become logjammed with the effort to say and do and settle everything at once.
Elizabeth GilbertPeople always fall in love with the most perfect aspects of each other's personalities. Who wouldn't? Anybody can love the most wonderful parts of another person. But that's not the clever trick. The really clever trick is this: Can you accept the flaws? Can you look at your partner's faults honestly and say, 'I can work around that. I can make something out of it.'? Because the good stuff is always going to be there, and it's always going to pretty and sparkly, but the crap underneath can ruin you.
Elizabeth Gilbert