And yet it was not authentic, of course, because no real boardwalk of 1910 had been this perfect. It was like a fondly remembered nostalgic confection, a past sanitized of its imperfections,...

If you can't put your soul into something, give it up and leave that stuff to someone else.

You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits

It's one thing to be a good guy because that's who you are. It's something else to be a good guy because you're too much of a fucking pussy to break the rules.

Free to Be . . . You and Me

Peter Enns is correct: "We do not honor the Lord nor do we uphold the gospel by playing make-believe."

If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.

Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess.

On page 145, I defined belonging as the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. One of the biggest surprises in this research was learning that fitting in and belonging are not the...

Children's voices - even those who couldn't carry the tune - are always appealing.

Patagonia's image arises directly from the values, outdoor pursuits, and passions of its founders and employees. While it has practical and nameable aspects, it can't be made into a formula. In fact,...

No, I don't think I could fall in love with him, handsome though he is, because I don't accept any of that huff he gives me about my great beauty and all that. I'd have to trust a man's words before I...

You live if you dance to the voice that ails you.

Like true friends, they take no hearty or elegant stance loosely choreographed from some broad perspective. They get right in there and mutter "Jesus Christ!" and shake their heads.

Do not speak to me of martyrdom, of men who die to be remembered on some parish day. I don't believe in dying though, I too shall die. And violets like castanets will echo me.

No, he is not tactful, yet have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet, at the same time, beautiful?

Beautiful people blossomed forth from out of the polyglot, people who really had a lot to them, only it had been smothered by all the eternal social games that had been set up. Suddenly they found...

You are not like the others. I've seen a few. I know. When I talk to you, you look at me. Last night, when I mentioned the moon, you looked at it. The others never would. The others would turn away,...

You know, if you pretend not to be who you really are, you can end up with the wrong job, the wrong friends, God knows what else. Not your own life.

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

I'll take honest arrogance over fake humility any day.

But above all, in order to be, never try to seem.