By Anam Tariq
Quotes travel far and wide, often from person to person, generation to generation, century to century. In modern times, we've seen them spread across social media. I am always on the lookout for good, meaningful quotes while reading, which can teach me something valuable or reveal hidden truths.
Below, Smiley’s quote relays one of the imperative purposes of writing. Wednesday Addams’ dialogue aptly describes what social media is doing to us. People from all walks of life can find purpose in these words, which is why they're always worth keeping an eye out for. I’ve managed to arrange below such ensemble of quotes that shine a light on the multiple facets of life and facts about existing, while some of them also ruminate on the art of writing.
Enjoy reading all the curated quotes!
Adulthood is not a destination, it’s a road.
— Doogie Kamealoha from Doogie Kamealoha M.D.
The very first quote here was for me very timely. I could relate to it. It is often believed amongst kids/young people that adulthood is kind of a destination, a goal where they have to reach. But it’s not. Because it’s just a road where we keep on walking ahead, keep learning, and keep getting better until death.
"You never know the last time you’ll see a place. A person."
— Jenny Han, It’s Not Summer Without You
"You can afford to take your time, Mabel. What you can’t afford to do is waste it."
— Ben Glenroy from Only Murders in the Building
"For Belly, Conrad is the sun, and when the sun comes out, the stars disappear."
— Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty)
"That’s the trouble with loving a wild thing; you’re always left watching the door."
— Edith Pattou
"I’ve had one besetting sin always, Mary: I’m proud. Pride can be the devil. It runs in our family."
— Agatha Christie, Sad Cypress
"Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."
— Willa Cather, My Ántonia
"That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
— Miyamoto Musashi
"Most people had one of two reactions when they lost someone: either they vowed never to move house, keeping rooms exactly the way they’d been left, … or they made a clean break, unable to bear the thought of living every day as though nothing had changed, when in fact their whole world had shifted."
— Clare Mackintosh, I Let You Go
"Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but you’ve actually been planted."
— Christine Caine
"When you're young, you just run, but you come back to what you need"
— Taylor Swift, This Love
Taylor's line feels so true to me. Young people crave exploration, adventure. Then, when they need it the most, they can return to the things and people they need.
"Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold."
— William Shakespeare, As You Like It (Act 1, Scene 3)
"Home isn’t always a place, is it?"
— Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Mackesy’s remark really hits home (no pun intended), because surely, home is wherever our loved ones are, right?
"I believed things like happiness and misfortune depended on how you saw things. … Failing to get into university was a misfortune, but then I was happy because it meant I could work out what I wanted to do with my life."
— Makoto Shinkai, She and Her Cat
"Broaden your interests. It's nice to have at least one surprising hobby or passion. People find it interesting. In many ways, the part of you that is least expected is more respected."
— James Clear
"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood."
— T. S. Eliot
"When the worst happens, you can’t bear it alone."
— Emma Stonex
"Time gives you a bit of distance where you can look back at whatever’s happened to you and not feel all the feelings you once had."
— Emma Stonex
"I did not begin them by thinking I had a good subject for a novel. I began them by thinking that I had discovered important truths about the world that required communication."
— Jane Smiley on writing her novels, 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel
"Secrets are sometimes revealed from the most unexpected places."
— Anam Tariq
"A soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation."
— Wednesday Addams from Wednesday on social media
Hopefully you will find something above to take home with you and to probably press against a pressed rose inside the vault that is your beloved notebook!
About the Writer:
Anam Tariq is a poet and writer from India with an MA (English) and a poetry collection A Leaf upon a Book (Leadstart, 2022). She runs The Wordsridge Newsletter on Substack and writes for Writers’ Cafeteria, and others. Anam has published poetry, non-fiction, an interview, and a research piece in different places. Her poems appear in The Punch Magazine, nether Quarterly, EKL Review, Swim Press, coalitionworks, SeaGlass Literary, The Amazine, and elsewhere. In her free time Anam loves immersing herself in books and learning Arabic. Website: www.anamtariq.in; Instagram: anam.tariq_; Twitter: anamtariq_