if there's love

We’re friends and we like these things. 

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Novelist Ernest Hemingway on acting with confidence while living with humility:

"Be humble after but not during the action."

Source: The Art of the Short Story, The Paris Review

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The rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson on dealing with challenges:

"In every challenge or even tragedy, there is an opportunity. And if you train yourself to look for the opportunity, you will be able to take control of the situation and even turn it into a positive or if it can't be turned into something good, at least something good could come out of it."

Source: Likutei Sichot: The Collected Writings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

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Entrepreneur and author Derek Sivers on the value of mastering something:

"Mastery is the best goal because the rich can't buy it, the impatient can't rush it, the privileged can't inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status."

Source: How to Live

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Writer and professor Joseph Campbell on loving your fate:

"Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called "the love of your fate."

Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is what I need." It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment — not discouragement — you will find the strength is there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege!

Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes."

Source: Reflections on the Art of Living (edited lightly for clarity)

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Poet Andrea Gibson on where you spend your attention:

"In any moment on any given day I can measure my wellness by this question:

Is my attention on loving or is my attention on who isn't loving me?"

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Writer Heidi Priebe on love and grief:

"As long as there is love, there will be grief. The grief of time passing, of life moving on half-finished, of empty spaces that were once bursting with the laughter and energy of people we loved.

As long as there is love there will be grief because grief is love's natural continuation. It shows up in the aisles of stores we once frequented, in the half-finished bottle of wine we pour out, in the whiff of cologne we get two years after they've been gone.

Grief is a giant neon sign, protruding through everything, pointing everywhere, broadcasting loudly, "Love was here." In the finer print, quietly, "Love still is."

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P

Playwright and poet Sarah Ruhl on love as a creative force:

"There was once a very great American surgeon named Halsted. He was married to a nurse. He loved her—immeasurably.

One day Halsted noticed that his wife's hands were chapped and red when she came back from surgery. And so he invented rubber gloves. For her. It is one of the great love stories in medicine. The difference between inspired medicine and uninspired medicine is love...

[He] loved her to the point of invention."

Source: The Clean House ​

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Web designer David Leggett on how to handle criticism:

"Be friendly to those who enjoy your work and friendlier to those who attack it."

Source: Professional Web Design

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"It's remarkable how often the real problem is not what happened, but how it was communicated."

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"If you're having trouble sticking to a new habit, try a smaller version until it becomes automatic. Do less than you're capable of, but do it more consistently than you have before."

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"It's never the right time, but right now is usually the best time."

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Entrepreneur and investor Paul Graham on fooling yourself:

"If you're trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right."

Source: What You'll Wish You'd Known​

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Novelist Chuck Palahniuk on memory:

"It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace."

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“You will never find one answer to what makes you happy. There are many answers, and they change based on your current state.

People need to relax, but if all you do is sit on the beach, it gets old. People find meaning in work, but if all you do is work, it gets exhausting. People benefit from exercise, but if all you do is exercise, it gets unhealthy.

Happiness will always be fleeting because your needs change over time. The question is: what do you need right now?”