“All the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy.” — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
Success isn't about acquiring things, it's about discovering your life purpose and following the call — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“I've spent my entire life chasing wonder, and to me that word is synonymous with spirituality.” — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
I am the planet's most affectionate life-form, something like the cross between a golden retriever and a barnacle. — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy.” — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
My whole life I've been an over-giver. My general operating policy has always been, 'If it belongs to me, don't worry: You… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“Not making a living,' he wrote, on his first trip to Alaska, 'just living.” — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
Women are capable of enduring a tremendous amount of disappointment and still have a good life. — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
I wonder if I am capable of being somebody’s sun, somebody’s everything. Am I centered enough now to be the center of… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“The Bhagavad Gita--that ancient Indian Yogic text--says that it is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
I believe that - if you are serious about a life of writing, or indeed about any creative form of expression -… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“central beliefs of Calvinist teachings: You are responsible for your own situation in life, you are most likely doomed, and the future… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
Creativity asks you to enter realms with uncertain outcomes. People want to create a safe life for themselves so they try to… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“We need courage to take ourselves seriously, to look closely and without flinching, to regard the things that frighten us in life… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
My mom is a master gardener and I grew up on a farm. I came back to it really late in life… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“I also know that I won't go forth and have children just in case I might regret missing it later in life;… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“For the entirety of my young and skittish life, I had fixated upon my fear as if it were the most interesting… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
Virginia Woolf wrote, "Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword." On one side of that… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
My husband is not American. He was born in Brazil, where he grew up under a filthy, corrupt dictatorship. In his twenties,… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
This was my voice, but perfectly wise, calm and compassionate. This was what my voice would sound like if I’d only ever… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“Everyone makes their own path, and I must make mine. The Bhagavad Gita - and ancient Indian Yogic text - says that… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“Alma's existence at once felt bigger and much, much smaller — but a pleasant sort of smaller. The world had scaled itself… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
I'm trying to dismantle a stereotype that in order to live any kind of creative life, you have to be in torment… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“The only unforgivable crime is to cut short the experiment of one’s own life before its natural end. To do so is… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“I look at the Augusteum,and I think that perhaps my life has not actually been so chaotic, after all. It is merely… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“Show up for your own life, he said. Don't pass your days in a stupor, content to swallow whatever watery ideas modern… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“I also know that I won't go forth and have children just in case I might regret missing it later in life;… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“In all of our lives, there are days that we wish we could see expunged from the record of our very existence.… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“Human artistic expression is blessedly, refreshingly nonessential. That's exactly why I love it so much. [...] The fact that I get to… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“So, no, when I mention "tolerance", I'm not talking about learning how to stomach pure awfulness. What I am talking about is… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“When you are walking down the road in Bali and your pass a stranger, the very first question he or she will… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
“Instructions for freedom": 1. Life's metaphors are God's instructions. 2. You have just climbed up and above the roof, there is nothing… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share Image
That's your friend. My husband is my best friend. He's not the mirror that holds up my flaws. He's just the guy who's like,… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
“Not to mention that I have finally arrived at that age where a woman starts to question whether the wisest way to get over… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
“The Buddha taught that all human suffering is rooted in desire. Don't we all know this to be true? Any of us who have… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
“And while [we] do have possibilities that are vast and magnificent and almost infinite in scope, it's important to remember that our choice-rich lives… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
If we never leave our house except to drive to work, do we need to be even remotely aware of this powerful, humbling, extraordinary… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
I will tell you why we have these extraordinary minds and souls, Miss Whittaker," he continued, as though he had not heard her. "We… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
Both the five-year-olds looked at me with bewilderment and a bit of fearful uncertainty. I had a sudden horrifying image of the woman I… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
“Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else.” — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
The ingredients of both darkness and light are equally present in all of us,...The madness of this planet is largely a result of the… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
I was full of a hot, powerful sadness and would have loved to burst into the comfort of tears, but tried hard not to,… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
“I live in nature where everything is connected, circular. The seasons are circular. The planet is circular, and so is the planet around the… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
“His spelling was several degrees beyond arbitrary, and his punctuation brought reason to sigh with unhappiness. But” — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
Before you realize this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair, a notion nicely expressed in this exasperated line from the… — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share
I actually have a great deal of respect for antidepressants; I think they can be enormously mighty tools toward recovery. — Elizabeth Gilbert Copy Share