I struggled to come up with inspiration this week. But after not getting the fourth internship I applied for, I definitely found it. Because there are people out there who are way better at this than I am, I decided to find some good quotes for motivation to keep going. Not to get bogged down by answers I didn’t want. I knew I kept my Tumblr all these years for a reason… and it was to find all these quotes I saved.

I tried to keep a theme going, but I could really spend the entire day scrolling through pieces of writing that feel like a little therapy session every time I read them. Really the only thing these quotes have in common is that perspective changers. Or perspective enhancers. Sometimes even little reminders. So here it goes:

1. "That is why it is so important to let certain things go. To release them. To cut loose. People need to understand that no one is playing with marked cards; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Don’t expect to get anything back, don’t expect recognition for your efforts, don’t expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Complete the circle. Not out of pride, inability or arrogance, but simply because whatever it is no longer fits in your life. Close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of the dust. Stop being who you were and become who you are."
Paulo Coelho

2. "If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives."
Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator

3. "People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. "When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy.
This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving."
Kim McMillen

5. "The most intimate thing we can do is to allow people we love most see us
at our worst. At our lowest. At our weakest. True intimacy happens when nothing is perfect."
Amy Harmon, The Song of David

6. “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
Carrie Fisher
7. "The world will knock you down plenty. You don’t need to be doing it to yourself."
Elizabeth Scott

8. "And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in."
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

9. "If I’ve learned one lesson from all that’s happened to me, it’s that there’s no such thing as the biggest mistake of your existence. There’s no such thing as ruining your life. Life’s a pretty resilient thing, it turns out."
Sophie Kinsella

10. "A woman is not written in braille, you don’t have to touch her to know her."
Jonaida Estrada González,

11. "Millions of people have decided not to be sensitive. They have grown thick skins around themselves just to avoid being hurt by anybody. But it is at great cost. Nobody can hurt them, but nobody can make them happy either."
Osho

12. "Like a wild flower; she spent her days, allowing herself to grow, not many knew of her struggle, but eventually all; knew of her light."
Nikki Rowe

13. "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."
Mahatma Gandhi

14. "A woman is unstoppable after she realizes she deserves better." Unknown

15. "Happiness is an inside job. Don’t assign anyone else that much power over your life." Unknown

16. "The most destructive thing I’ve ever done was believe someone else’s opinion of me." Unknown

17. “At times the world can seem an unfriendly & sinister place, but believe us when we say that there is much more good in it than bad. All you have to do is look hard enough.”

18. “There are some feelings you will never find words for; you will learn to name them after the ones who gave them to you.” Maza Dohta

19. “I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things not meant for me.” A.G.

20. "I don’t know about the gods up in heaven or the superheroes but I have seen the strength in human eyes, smiling through tears. Human heart, broken, bleeding, beating and still loving. Human hands trembling picking up their pieces and moving forward, always .
This is the strength I salute to." Unknown

21. "Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can’t cry it away or eat it away or starve it away or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. It’s just there, and you have to survive it. You have to endure it. You have to live though it and love it and move on and be better for it and run as far as you can in the direction of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your own desire to heal."
Dear Sugar, “Tiny Beautiful Things”

22. "It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."
Aristotle

23. "Of course, you never really forget anyone, but you certainly release them. You stop allowing their history to have any meaning for you today. You let them change their haircut, let them move, let them fall in love again. And when you see this person you have let go, you realize that there is no reason to be sad. The person you knew exists somewhere, but you are separated by too much time to reach them again."
Chelsea Fagan, How We Let People Go

24. "Kill the part of you that believes it can’t survive without someone else."
Sade Andria Zabala, War Songs

25. "I grasped two things: I wasn’t as happy as I could be, and my life wasn’t going to change unless I made it change."
Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

26. "Not everything is supposed to become something beautiful and long-lasting. Sometimes people come into your life to show you what is right and what is wrong, to show you who you can be, to teach you to love yourself, to make you feel better for a little while, or to just be someone to walk with at night and spill your life to. Not everyone is going to stay forever, and we still have to keep on going and thank them for what they’ve given us."
Emery Allen

27. "You approached it like it was heavy, so it was"
Ed Coan ‘Words to Lift By’

28. "If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
Roald Dahl, The Twits

29. "Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have."
Robert Holden

30. "There are people who dislike you because you do not dislike yourself." Unknown

31. "Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner."
Lao Tzu

32. "When a person tells you you hurt them, you don’t get to decide you didn’t."
Louis C.K.

33. "I am slowly learning that some people are not good for me, no matter how much I love them. I deserve someone who is gentle and kind, because my soul is getting tired. Realizing that I deserve something good is one of the first steps."
Michelle K., Why I Need to Say Goodbye to You

34. "The people I find irresistible are those in whom the child was not killed. The qualities of openness, trust, inquisitiveness, tenderness, eagerness, enthusiasm, others undefinable, come from the child in us and are the source of charm. The laughter and the smile that do not calculate, the spontaneity that is not arrested. I cannot remember “adult” charm or whether it even exists."
Anaïs Nin, from The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 6: 1955-1966

35. "If someone treats you badly, recognize that there is something wrong with them, not you. Normal people do not go around destroying other people."
Unknown

36. "One of the greatest tragedies in life is to lose your own sense of self and accept the version of you that is expected by everyone else."
K.L. Toth

37. "You cannot use someone else’s fire; you can only use your own. And in order to do that, you must first be willing to believe you have it."
Unknown

38. "Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red."
Kait Rokowski

One of my best friends in high school continuously sent me Cristina Yang quotes to convince me not to text boys who weren’t good for me. It worked.

39. "Knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying." Grey's Anatomy, Meredith Grey, Season 1 Episode 6.

40. “Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here, and don’t give a damn what anyone thinks. There are no teams here, no buddies. You’re on your own. Be on your own.”
Grey's Anatomy, Cristina Yang, Season 4 Episode 15

41. "Don't let what he wants eclipse what you need. He's very dreamy, but he's not the sun. You are!"
Grey's Anatomy, Cristina Yang, Season 10 Episode 24