#8

And when these words are found, let it be known that God's penmanship has been signed with a language called love. That's why my breath is felt by the deaf, and why my words are heard and confined to the ears of the blind. I too, dream in color and in rhyme. So I guess I'm one of a kind in a full house, 'cause whenever I open my heart, my soul, or my mouth, a touch of God reigns out.

-J. Ivy, "Never Let Me Down"

#7

"I took a step forward, and it was my first time in Queens. I walked through Long Island City, Woodside, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights. I shook my tambourine the whole time, because it helped me remember that even though I was going through different neighborhoods, I was still me."

-Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

#6

"I origami the situation from what is considered unsuitable to something beautiful. The outcome is legendary, and nothing less"

-"Nothing Less", Living Legends

#5

"You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart- now, that matters. The whole problem with people is-"

"They don't know what matters and what doesn't," I said, filling in her sentence and feeling proud of myself for doing so.

"I was gonna say. The problem is they know what matters, but they don't choose it. You know how hard that it, Lily? I love May, but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."

-Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

#4

"They were dead; I could no longer deny it. What a thing to acknowledge in your heart! To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures to people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you." Life of Pi, Yann Martel (again, I know, but I am currently reading it!)

#3

"Where does it start? Muscles tense. One leg a pillar, holding the body upright between the earth and sky. The other a pendulum, swinging from behind. Heel touches down. The whole weight of the body rolls forward onto the ball of the foot. The big tow pushes off, and the delicately balanced weight of the body shifts again. The legs reverse position. It starts with a step and then another step and then another that add up like taps on a drum to a rhythm, the rhythm of walking. The most obvious and the most obscure thing in the world, this walking that wanders so readily into religion, philosophy, landscape, urban policy, anatomy, allegory, and heartbreak." -Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

#2

"We do indeed weave our spirits into the events and relationships of our lives. Life is as simple as that." -Anatomy of the Spirit