78.

"Oh child," spoke Papa tenderly.  "Don't ever discount the wonder of your tears.  They can be healing waters and a stream of joy.  Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak...this world is full of tears, but if you remember I promised that it would be Me who would wipe them from your eyes."

William P. Young
from The Shack

77.

"She began to speak slowly and deliberately.  "Mackenzie, I will take a verb over a noun anytime.  I am a verb.  I am that I am.  I will be who I will be.  I am a verb!  I am alive, dynamic, ever active, and moving.  I am a being verb.  And as my very essence is a verb, I am more attuned to verbs than nouns.  Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on.  Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies.  Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead.  Unless 'I am', there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive."

"And," Mack was still struggling, although a glimmer or light seemed to begin to shine into his mind.  "And this means what, exactly?"

Sarayu seemed unperturbed by his lack of understanding.  "For something to move from death to life you must introduce something living and moving into the mix.  To move from something that is only a noun to something dynamic and unpredictable, to something living and present tense, is to move from law to grace."

William P. Young
from The Shack

76.

"Nobody knows what horrors I have saved the world from 'cuz people can't see what never happened.  All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice.  If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning.  This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil.  Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say.  Now it touches everyone that I love, those who follow me and those who don't.  If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love.  Love that is forced is no love at all."

William P. Young
from The Shack

75.

"People are tenacious when it comes to the treasure of their imaginary independence.  They hoard and hold their sickness with a firm grip.  The find their identity and worth and their brokenness and guard it with every ounce of strength they have.  No wonder grace has such little attraction.  In that sence you have tried to lock the door of your heart from the inside."

"But I didn't succeed."

"That's because My love is bigger than your stupidity."

William P. Young
from The Shack

74.

"Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies.  Don't ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes.  That will only lead you to false notions about me.  Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering, you will find grace in many facets and colors."

William P. Young
from The Shack

73.

"Those who love Me come from every system that exists.  They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don't vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions.  I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous.  Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians.  I have no desire to make them Christians, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved."

"Does that mean," asked Mack, "that all roads will lead to you?"

"Not at all," smiled Jesus as he reached for the door handle to the shop.  "Most roads don't lead anywhere.  What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you."

William P. Young
from The Shack

72.

"The darkness hides the true size of fears and lies and regrets,"Jesus explained.  "The truth is they are more shadow than reality, so they seem bigger in the dark.  When the light shines into the places they live inside you, you start to see them for what they are."

"But why do we keep all that crap inside?" Mack asked.

"Because we believe it's safer there.  And, sometimes, when you're a kid trying to survive, it really is safer there.  Then you grow up on the outside, but on the inside you're still that kid in the dark cave surrounded by monsters, and out of habit you keep adding to your collection..."

"So how does that change, you know, for somebody who's lost in the dark, like me?

"Most often, pretty slowly," Jesus answered.  "Remember, you can't do it alone.  Some floks try with all kinds of coping mechanisms and mental games. But the monsters are still there, just waiting for the chance to come out."

"So what do I do now?"

"What you're already doing, Mack, learning to live loved.  It's not an easy concept for humans.  You have a really hard time sharing anything."  He chuckled and continued.  "So yes, what we desire is for you to 're-turn' to us, and then we come and make our home inside you, and then we share.  The friendship is real, not merely imagined.  We're meant to experience this life, your life, together, in a dialogue, sharing the journey.  You get to shar in our wisdom and learn to love with our love..."

William P. Young
from The Shack

71.

"'This always works better when we're together, don't you think?' Jesus asked, smiling."

William P. Young
from The Shack

70.

"Our earth is like a child who has grown up without parents, having no one to guide and direct her."  As Jesus spike, his voice intensified in subdued anguish.  "Some have attempted to help her but most have simply tried to use her.  Humans, who have been giving the task to lovingly steer the world, instead plunder her with no consideration, other than their immediate needs.  And they give little thought for their own children who will inherit their lack of love.  So they use her and abuse her with little consideration and then when she shudders or blows her breath, they are offended and raise their fist at God."

William P. Young
from The Shack

69.

"...pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly...and if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place."

William P. Young
from The Shack

68.

"I'm not who you think I am..."
"I feel totally lost."
"Then let's see if we can find you in this mess."

William P. Young
from The Shack

67.

"You don't need to have it all figured out, just be with Me."

William P. Young
from The Shack

66.

"Sometimes honesty can be incredibly messy."

William P. Young
from The Shack

65.

"Emotions are the colors of the soul."

William P. Young
from The Shack

64.

"...Jesus, I'm not sure I know how to..."
"Let me show you.  Just keep giving me the little bit you have and together we'll watch it grow."

William P. Young
from The Shack

63.

"When you start to sink, let Me rescue you."

William P. Young
from The Shack

62.

"True love never forces."

William P. Young
from The Shack

61.

"Sometimes when I miss you, I feel sad the same way, like my whole life has been rushing toward you and I can't wait for us to be together."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

60.

"Beyond the mountains, according to the old Korean proverb...were more mountains.  We'd only just begun."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

59.

"Soon you will be home and in my arms and the world will reconfigure itself around you and there will be enough compassion for you to feel scared by how much I care for you."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

58.

"...her voice [was] like nothing I had heard before, a shouted whisper on its way to becoming a plea."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

57.

"...I prefer the wintertime, when all is dead around me, and nothing buds, and the truth of eternity, so cold and dark, is revealed to the unfortunate acolytes of reality."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

56.

"The love I felt for her on that train ride had a capital and provinces, parishes and a Vatican, an orange planet and many sullen moons - it was systemic and it was complete."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

55.

"I gave him a photocopy of who I was, without telling him that I was unhappy and humiliated and often, just like him, alone."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

54.

"The train was pulling out of the station and I was running behind it, my suitcase half open, white underwear spilling comically along the platform."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

53.

"My books only know the minds of their authors."

Gary Shteyngart
from Super Sad True Love Story

52.

"Happiness is only real when shared."

Christopher McCandless

51.

And I throw my heart into the fire
'Cos I want to set my heart on fire
And I watch it try befriending embers
But the ice don't melt in mid-December.

Mother Mother
from O My Heart

50.

In another town the light fills my room
In another town
They're painting my moon
In another town
I won't see it soon
In another town
I know
I know
I know

I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you

Regina Spektor
from Another Town

49.

"The whole world was a blur except for your face."

Philip Beard
from Dear Zoe

48.

"But love is this really powerful thing that everyone's got if they'd just learn how to accept it."

Philip Beard
from Dear Zoe

47.

"Maybe 'Z' is the shape of everyone's life.  You're going along in what feels like a straight line, headed for one horizon, the only one as far as you know, and then something happens, maybe something good, maybe something terrible, or maybe just something like seeing a guy picking out a cantaloupe at the store, something that feels like nothing, and all of a sudden you're headed at another horizon altogether.  Good things can happen that you did nothing to deserve.  Bad things can happen that aren't really anyone's fault.  And it's sad how, if you let yourself, it's so much easier to think about what you've lost instead of what you have left."

Philip Beard
from Dear Zoe

46.

"But the moment had passed and I had missed it because I hadn't seen it coming, just like always."

Philip Beard
from Dear Zoe

45.

"It seems like I never figure things out.  Stuff just happens to me and then I see how I should have seen it coming.  I hope that changes when you get to be an adult.  I don't want to live my whole life afraid of what's going to happen next."

Philip Beard
from Dear Zoe

44.

"I fell harder in love with Jimmy every day, partly because it felt so good to let myself do that, to feel something so extreme that wasn't sadness.  And he never acted afraid.  He just kept accepting it as if he expected everything I said or did and was just waiting for it to happen and saying, 'What took you so long, Tess?'"

Philip Beard
from Dear Zoe

43.

I'm scratching at the surface now
And I'm trying hard to work it out
So much has gone misunderstood
This mystery only leads to doubt
And I didn't understand
When you reached out to take my hand
And if you have something to say
You'd better say it now

Cause this is what you've waited for
Your chance to even up the score
And as these shadows fall on me now
I will somehow

Cause I'm picking up a message Lord
And I'm closer than I've ever been before

So if you have something to say
Say it to me now
Say it to me now
Say it to me now

Glen Hansard
Say It To Me Now
from the Once Soundtrack

42.

"Maybe it's more like you said before, all of us being cracked open. Like, each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And these things happen— these people leave us, or don't love us, or don't get us, or we don't get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel cracks open in places. And I mean, yeah, once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable. Once it starts to rain inside the Osprey, it will never be remodeled. But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and we finally fall apart. And it's only in that time that we can see one another, because we see out of ourselves through the cracks and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out."

John Green
from Paper Towns
 

41.

"There's blood in my mouth 'cause I've been biting my tongue all week."

Rilo Kiley
from Portions for Foxes

40.

She will always be the only thing
That comes between me and the awful sting
That comes from living in a world that's so damn mean.

The Eels
My Beloved Monster

39.

Clementine: Well, I came back down stairs and you were gone.
Joel: I walked out. I walked out the door.
Clementine: Why?
Joel: I don't know. I felt like a scared little kid. I was like... it was - it was above my head. I don't know.
Clementine: You were scared?
Joel: Yeah. I thought you knew that about me. I ran back to the bonfire trying to outrun my humiliation, I think.
Clementine: Was it something I said?
Joel: Yeah. You said "So go"... with such disdain, ya' know?
Clementine: Oh, I'm sorry.
Joel: It's ok.

from Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

38.

"When you leave, there will only be one of us, and

you'll not be able to love me as easily as tossing pennies down a well."


Mark Yakich
from The Departure

37.

"What did I know about love and fate and fortune back then?  These were big words and you could only know their meaning if you looked up at the sky but I could only look down and see myself in the wet grains of cement, in the cracks, in the moss that grew between the cracks."

Nami Mun
from Miles from Nowhere

36.

"Only love makes you run around in the rain without feeling cold.  Only love numbs you out like that and still lets you feel every cell in your body."

Nami Mun
from Miles from Nowhere

35.

"The rain kept falling and I felt as though bits of me were falling with it."

Nami Mun
from Miles from Nowhere

34.

"Thinking about it now, he felt stupid, as we all do when we remember all the time we waste wishing we were somewhere else."

Paolo Giordano
from The Solitude of Prime Numbers

33.

"He thought of a potential that had been exhausted, the invisible vector lines that had previously united them through the air had now ceased to exist."

Paolo Giordano
from The Solitude of Prime Numbers

32.

"People took what they wanted, they clutched at coincidences, the few that there were, and made a life from them."

Paolo Giordano
from The Solitude of Prime Numbers

31.

"Against certain parts of yourself, you remain powerless..."

Paolo Gioradno
from The Solitude of Prime Numbers

30.

"In the end it happens, in some way you couldn't imagine before."

Paolo Giordano
from The Solitude of Prime Numbers

29.

I won't regret saying this
This thing
That I'm saying
Is it better than
Keeping my mouth shut
That goes without saying
Call, break it off
Call, break my own heart
Maybe I would have been
Something you'd be good at
Maybe you would have been
Something I'd be good at
But now we'll never know
I won't be sad
But in case
I'll go there
Everyday,
To make myself feel bad
There's a chance
I'll start to wonder
If this was the thing to do

-Tegan and Sara
Call It Off

28.

There is a layer of clouds between me and you,
that block out the sun,
a thousand ways to break my heart,
but I’m stuck on one.

Shotgun my pleas to heaven,
deep down I know you’re there,
but tonight my heart is heavy.
I really need you here.

This is mine; I claim this.
Your promises sustain me.
Like captain bound to ship,
I’d rather sink than swim.

There are fifteen steps from here to my bed.
I’m so tired my vision is blurring.
Your voice rings clear in my head.
Tonight sleep will elude me.

Shotgun my pleas to heaven,
deep down I know you’re there,
but tonight my heart is heavy.
I really need you here.

These idols,
not of gold,
but of flesh and blood.
These idols,
oh I know,
they’ll break my heart.

I’d rather sink than swim

-Elijah Wyman

Captian

27.

"Sticks and stones are hard on bones
Aimed with angry art,
Words can sting like anything
But silence breaks the heart."
 
-Phyllis McGinley
Ballade of Lost Objects

26.

"That is the way we are made: we don't reason, where we feel; we just feel."

Mark Twain
from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

25.

“Is it that your dream is unattainable or is it that you have the wrong dream?” 

Joaquin Phoenix

24.

Michael: I've long since stopped trying to make people do things they don't want to do.
Christine: But she's the love of your life. You're just gonna let her go?
Michael: No. She's just - Going.

From the movie 

Me, You and Everyone We Know

23.

"The bravest thing I have is hope."

Daylight
Brave Saint Saturn

22.

"It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

J.K. Rowling

21.

Were you named for the river that surrounds
All my biggest my mistakes or the way that I made it out?

Fun.
I Wanna Be the One

...you're the way I made it out, Piper Ann.  I love you with all of my heart.  Happy Birthday, Love.

20.

I read with every broken heart we should become more adventurous...

Rilo Kiley
More Adventurous

19.

Got no time
Got no mind
For the line
In my life
No time to think
Time for sleep now
Time to sink way into the blue, dear

Got no time
Got no mind
For the line
In this life
No time to think
Time for sleep now
Time to sink way into the blue, dear

So watch your time
Time descends
Let it spill quietly
From your hands
Oh, and the time is at hand
When all things under the sky
Go free of time
Time is passing you by
Got no time
And I am drifting
Yes, I am drifting

Remember when you were only a child
Remember when you were only a child
Remember when you were only a child
Start to see with your blue mind
Start to see with your blue mind
Don't be afraid of what you find
No, don't be afraid of what you find
(Don't stop your heart)
Cause I am drifting
Yes, I am drifting
Slowly, slowly I am drifting
Slowly, slowly I am drifting
Yes, slowly, slowly I am drifting

Blue Mind

-Alexi Murdoch

18.

"We are but older children, dear,
Who fret to find our bedtime near."

Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass

17.

Valentine's Day is a holiday created by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

Joel
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

16.

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

-John Lennon 

15.

"Sometimes I get so lonely I forget what day it is, and how to spell my name."

Dagmar
from Lars and the Real Girl

14.

Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry.

– Robert Heinlein

13.

The Little Boy and the Old Man

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man."

-Shel Silverstein

12.

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering.
 
-Paulo Coelho

11.

Friends are people who borrow books and set wet glasses on them.
E.A. Robinson

10.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18

9.

Do you know how helpless you feel if you have a cup of coffee in your hand and you start to sneeze?

-Jean Kerr

8.

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

-The Goo Goo Dolls
Iris

7.

You are in my mind in between red lights and meetings, 
in between sips of coffee, 
in between ringing phones..." 

- Brenda Finne

6.

"People say they 'find' love, as if it were an object hidden by a rock.  But love takes many forms, and it is never the same for any man and woman.  What people find then is a certain love.  And Eddie found that certain love with Marguerite, a grateful love, a deep but quiet love, one that he knew, above all else, was irreplaceable.  Once she'd gone, he'd let the days go stale.  He put his heart to sleep."

except from pages 155-156 of
Mitch Albom's
"The Five People You Meet in Heaven"

5.

I used to expect my life to turn out like a movie or like a song lyric.

I still do.

I just watch more realistic movies and listen to heartbreaking music.

-CRA

4.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ...

 

-Alexander Pope

3.

What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.  It will decide what gets you out of bed in the mornings, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you.  Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
 

Pedro Arrupe

2.

I wanted to do something, 

anything, 

but I didn't know what to do. 

So I did this. 

This is my something.
 

-Jason Watt

1.

I beg you...to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. do not search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. and the point is, to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.   -Rilke