I don't recall the exact moment I chanced upon Mary Oliver. Was I scrolling down Tumblr when a snippet of her poem made me pause? Was it when I was picking up every book on the poetry shelf at Barnes & Noble and hers took my breath away? Was it through a random quote posted somewhere on social media?

Just like how we look back out our lives and don't always remember those defining moments, this was one of them for me. Discovering Mary Oliver and her poetry introduced me to a whole new way of manipulating words. Sure, all my life I read books, but none of them contained words that seemed to consume me and relate to me on a whole other level. After a long day, cracking open Mary Oliver's poetry was soothing. She always tells her reader, "It's going to be okay." and sometimes, that's the only thing you need to hear. The following is a list of my favorite Oliver quotes taken from her many poems: