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
Nobody's going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you're rich or poor, out of money… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
Self-pity is a dead-end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It's up to you to decide to stay parked… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
My family didn't go to church. Once when I slept over at the house of a friend, her parents brought me to… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“You don’t have to get a job that makes others feel comfortable about what they perceive as your success. You don’t have… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
The narratives we create in order to justify our actions and choices become in so many ways who we are. They are… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
But the reality is we often become our kindest, most ethical selves only by seeing what it feels like to be a… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
We like to pretend that our generous impulses come naturally. But the reality is we often become our kindest, most ethical selves… — 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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard.” — 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 about such… — Cheryl Strayed Copy Share Image
“. . . 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
