I have always been someone who appreciates a good quote, especially one that makes you see life differently. I've learned through reading, and writing essays for school that it's not always how much you write (it is important to meet the word count) but it's the weight and substance that your writing holds. I could read an entire book but there might only be 15 sentences that really stand out to me, and these sentences are ultimately what make the entire book for me.

Here are some quotes that I have highlighted and saved because they really stood out to me and made me see life differently. I hope you appreciate them as much as I do.

“Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward towards success,” - C.S. Lewis

Life is all about adventure. You will never get anywhere worthwhile without facing some sort of roadblock that makes you question your journey and ultimately makes you stronger in the end. I know that I have failed over and over again working on projects, but those failures have allowed me to find unique routes and ways to change things and better myself. So if you're struggling to pass a roadblock, don't become discouraged. These failures guide you towards success.

“We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic to creativity. When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our minds has changed, and that changes everything,” - Jonah Leher, The Observer

What would life be if you just stayed in one place and never attempted to see the world in a different way? Very boring. Buying a plane ticket and spending a weekend somewhere different, meeting people of different religions and cultures, and indulging yourself in something you could have never imagined is exciting. These experiences change you, they broaden your perspectives, and they open your mind. The best part is that when you go home everything will be the same, but you start to realize that you're the one who is different. You start to recognize your growth.

“Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn’t interest you, don’t do it — I would have made a terrible mother,” - Katharine Hepburn

There is a millennial struggle between starting a family and building your career, and both sides tend to look at the other sideways. I have never understood how anyone my age could start a family young, mostly because I don't feel ready. But the more you think about it, the more you realize that everyone is different. Everyone wants something different out of life, and although one path may not be the best choice for me, it might be the only choice that someone else sees. Watching parents in the grocery store, or my cousins run around and chase their kids makes my head spin, and I realized that parenting is the hardest job in the world. I'm just not ready for it right now, and that's okay.

“At some point, being angry is just another bad habit, like smoking, and you keep poisoning yourself without thinking about it,” - Jonathan Tropper, This Is Where I Leave You

It is sometimes easier to be angry than it is to forgive. However, we don't realize how toxic holding onto our emotions can be sometimes. Jonathan Tropper compares holding onto anger to the bad habit of smoking, and he couldn't be any more spot on. Just as smoking rots your insides, so does being angry. In 2018, learn to let go, learn to forgive, and learn to give yourself peace.

“We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are,” - Talmud

Being a pre-law student, I have always had this quote in the back of my mind. Do the Supreme Court judges really take non-bias approaches when deciding impactful cases? They're supposed to, but the reality is that we don't see the world through other people's lenses, and we don't deal with the impacts that other people face. When looking at the way that something naturally is, we tend to understand it by interpreting it the way that we are and sometimes this causes trouble because it may be completely different than the way it actually is.

“I fell in love with the way you touched me without using your hands,” - via schnapsliebe

It is easy to get caught up in physical affection and attraction. Love is purest when they manage to touch your heart before they touch your body. Sometimes, it's not the way that someone holds your hands or kisses you, but the way that they buy you flowers, or take you to dinner, or tell you that they care about you. Anyone can touch someone else's body, but it takes a special person to touch someone's soul.

“You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in,” - Eliezer Yudkowsky

The time period that you grew up in is not an excuse to oppress other people. It is not an excuse to say vulgar things without consequences. Growing up in an ever-changing and fast growing world, it's critical that you are able to adjust to the changes in society. You can be part of the positive changes that the world makes, instead of letting your childhood hold you back.

“I think I write so much so one day I won’t have to talk anymore,” - via Meganportorreal

This is one of my favorite quotes. I have always been a writer, whether that means writing for Odyssey, writing for the school paper, writing stories or songs for fun, or keeping up with a journal. It has always been easier for me to express my thoughts on paper than to express them by tongue. Sometimes it makes me think: Will I write so much about my life that eventually, I won't have to explain myself anymore?

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It is an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It is a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing,” - Muhammad Ali

Growing up, my dad always told me that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. I was raised with the idea that nothing is impossible, and I still believe in that to this day. In my mind, anyone who believes that something is impossible is lazy and small minded. If that was the case, the world would not be a quarter of what it is today. So in the name of Muhammad Ali, "Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

“Your heart is the light of this world. Don’t cover it with your mind,” - Mooji

Overthinking is the death of us all. We lay in bed all night staring at the ceiling and just thinking about the things in our life that have happened to us, changed us, and what we want to do in the future. Thinking has a tendency to weigh us down the same way that our emotions do. And although it is always a good thing to use your brain, you have to make sure that your thoughts do not overpower the purity of your heart.

You want to do beautiful things in life and you can. Don't stay awake all night convincing yourself that you'll never be something, or you'll never be good enough. Your heart is the size of the moon, and you have to let it glow. Don't let your thoughts be the shadow that prevents you from glowing.

“Let people feel the weight for who you are and let them deal with it,” - John Eldridge

Stop apologizing for being who you are, saying how you feel, and living the life that you deserve to live. I am just as guilty as anyone else when it comes to living my life in fear of how other people will see me. But at the end of the day, we are who we are, and it's not our job to make sure that other people accept us for it. So, be whoever you want to be and let other people feel the weight of that. If they choose to get upset, that is their problem to deal with, not yours.