Anne LamottClutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messe… ▶371HumanityLifeThought
Anne LamottMothers are supposed to listen and, afterward, to respond with some wisdom and perspective, but these things were not my mother's strong suit.371Philosophy
Anne LamottYour unconscious can't work when you are breathing down its neck. ✨ Anne Lamott (2007). Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, p.182, Anchor361Life
Anne LamottIn fact, not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die. ✨ Anne Lamott (2000). Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, p.120, Anchor361DeathHopeThought
Anne LamottIt was not facing what life dealt that made you crazy, but rather trying to set life straight where it was unstraightenable. ✨ Anne Lamott (2003). Blue Shoe, Riverhead Trade… ▶372Life
Anne LamottSmall is how blessings, healing, progress and increase occur.351Humor
Anne LamottHuman lives are hard, even those of health and privilege, and don't make much sense. This is the message of the Book of Job: Any snappy explanation of suffering you come up with w… ▶351HumanityReading
Anne LamottA good marriage is where both people feel like they're getting the better end of the deal.373Humanity
Anne LamottI still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But … ▶351HopeHumanityLife
Anne LamottGrief, as I read somewhere once, is a lazy Susan. One day it is heavy and underwater, and the next day it spins and stops at loud and rageful, and the next day at wounded keening,… ▶352HopeReadingSadness
Anne LamottThe problem is acceptance, which is something we're taught not to do. We're taught to improve uncomfortable situations, to change things, alleviate unpleasant feelings. But if you… ▶341LifeTruth
Anne Lamott[S]he believed that the Buddhists were right–that if you want, you will suffer; if you love, you will grieve. (68) ✨ Anne Lamott (1997). Crooked Little Heart, Pantheon341Love
Anne LamottI am an Aries. Although I do not believe in astrology, I think this is exactly the right sign to have been born under.363Thought
Anne LamottYou own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better. ✨ Twitter post from Apr 23, 201… ▶352Humanity
Anne LamottI am going to notice the lights of the earth, the sun and the moon and the stars, the lights of our candles as we march, the lights with which spring teases us, the light that is … ▶374HopeReadingThought
Anne LamottThere is nothing as sweet as a comeback, when you are down and out, about to lose, and out of time.352Time
Anne LamottPay attention to the beauty surrounding you.341Reflection
Anne LamottRemember that you own what happened to you. If your childhood was less than ideal, you may have been raised thinking that if you told the truth about what really went on in your f… ▶363LifeThoughtTruth
Anne LamottTo love yourself as you are is a miracle, and to seek yourself is to have found yourself for now. And now is all we have, and love is who we are.375Love
Anne LamottSometimes this human stuff is slimy and pathetic...but better to feel it and talk about it and walk through it than to spend a lifetime being silently poisoned.331HumanityLifeTime
Anne LamottLife is like a recycling center, where all the concerns and dramas of humankind get recycled back and forth across the universe. But what you have to offer is your own sensibility… ▶353HumanityHumorLife
Anne LamottToni Morrison said, The function of freedom is to free someone else, and if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing som… ▶342Life
Anne LamottThere are a lot of us, some published, some not, who think the literary life is the loveliest one possible, this life of reading and writing and corresponding. We think this life … ▶342LifeLoveReading
Anne LamottThere are moments when I am writing when I think that if other people knew how I felt right now, they’d burn me at the stake for feeling so good, so full, so much intense pleasure… ▶331HumanityLifeThought
Anne LamottSam said to me the other day, I love you like 20 tyrannosauruses on 20 mountaintops, and this is the exact same way in which I love him. ✨ Anne Lamott (2007). Bird by Bird: … ▶342LifeLove
Anne LamottWe are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little. ✨ Anne Lamott (20… ▶375Life
Anne LamottSeeing yourself in print is such an amazing concept: you can get so much attention without having to actually show up somewhere... You don't have to dress up, for instance, and yo… ▶342Life
Anne LamottI've heard people say that God is the gift of desperation, and there's a lot to be said for having really reached a bottom where you've run out of any more good ideas or plans for… ▶342HumanityThought
Anne LamottEvangelical Christians and I can sit down and talk one on one about how much we love Jesus, and yet I'm not carried in Christian bookstores.342LoveReading
Anne LamottAll parents are an embarrassment to their kids. Often grandparents are the relief. Kids don't have to resist you. ✨ Anne Lamott's directions for grandparents: 'Som… ▶331Sadness
