Hiking the PCT was the maddening effort of knitting that…

“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

“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

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

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

My whole life sort of ended when my mom died.

— Cheryl Strayed

“And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard.”

— Cheryl Strayed

“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

“. . . there was the actual doing it, quickly followed by the grim realization of what it meant to do it, followed by…

— Cheryl Strayed

“The sky didn't wonder where it was.”

— Cheryl Strayed

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

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

“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

“It’s wrong that this is required of you. It’s wrong that your son died. It will always be wrong.”

— Cheryl Strayed

“Your ultimatum is simple. It’s fair. And it’s stating your own intentions, not what you hope theirs will be.”

— Cheryl Strayed

“We aren't poor," my mother said, again and again. "Because we're rich in love.”

— Cheryl Strayed