“We're all going to die, Johnny. Hit the iron bell like it's dinnertime.” — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
You have to keep walking, no matter what. If you don't, it's a living death. You're just standing in one place dying. — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
…the death of my mother was the thing that made me believe the most deeply in my safety: nothing bad could happen… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“It hadn't occurred to me that my mother would die. Until she was dying, the thought had never entered my mind. She… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“It was only after her death that I realized who she was: the apparently magical force at the center of our family… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
My mother's death put me in touch with my most savage self. As I've grown up and come to terms with her… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
Small things such as this have saved me: how much I love my mother—even after all these years. How powerfully I carry… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
If, as a culture, we don’t bear witness to grief, the burden of loss is placed entirely upon the bereaved, while the… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“Grief is tremendous, but love is bigger. You are grieving because you loved truly. The beauty in that is greater than the… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
One of the scandalous things I did was as I read them afterward I would burn them. I loved them, but for… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“Don’t listen to those people who suggest you should be “over” your daughter’s death by now. The people who squawk the loudest… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“Her death had obliterated that. It had obliterated me. It had cut me short at the very height of my youthful arrogance.… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“I didn't get to grow up and pull away from her and bitch about her with my friends and confront her about… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“She understands that attention is the first and final act of love, and that the ultimate dwindling resource in the human arrangement isn’t cheap… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“The most terrible and beautiful and interesting things happen in life. For some of you, those things have already happened. Whatever happens to you… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
Of course you want someone special to love you. A majority of the people who write to me inquire about how they can get… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
It's still true that literary works by women, gays, and writers of color are often framed as specific, rather than universal, small rather than… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“Don’t listen to those people who suggest you should be “over” your daughter’s death by now. The people who squawk the loudest about such… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“. . . there was the actual doing it, quickly followed by the grim realization of what it meant to do it, followed by… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
He was the most ordinary man in all the world, and yet in her memory he'd become luminous, like the prince in a fairy… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
Love is our essential nutrient. Without it, life has little meaning. It's the best thing we have to give and the most valuable thing… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“I never believed the boys were angry. I believed they were hurt and anger was the safest manifestation of their sorrow. It was the… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“It’s wrong that this is required of you. It’s wrong that your son died. It will always be wrong.” — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“Your ultimatum is simple. It’s fair. And it’s stating your own intentions, not what you hope theirs will be.” — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
“We aren't poor," my mother said, again and again. "Because we're rich in love.” — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share
![“One of the scandalous things I did was as I read them afterward I would burn them. I loved them, but for practical reasons I had to lighten the load. I burned favorites, like William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying." There's a whole list in the back of my book. It's me,[Adolf] Hitler, [Benito]…” quote by Cheryl Strayed](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/c5f/cheryl-strayed-605_book_one-of-the-scandalous-things-i-did-was-a_2945423.jpg)
