Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Anne LamottRead
Your experiences will be yours alone. But truth and best friendship will rarely if ever disappoint you.
Interpretation
Personal experiences are unique, but genuine friendship and truth are reliable sources of support.
This quote emphasizes the individuality of our experiences, suggesting that while everyone goes through their own distinct life events, the foundations of true friendship and honesty provide a steady source of comfort and assurance. Lamott highlights the rarity of disappointment that comes from authentic connections and the truth, indicating that these elements are crucial for a fulfilling life.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a friend's wedding to highlight the importance of true friendship.
Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Or you might shout at the top of your lungs or whisper into your sleeve, "I hate you, God." That is a prayer too, because it is real, it is truth, and maybe it is the first sincere thought you've had in months.
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
It is hard to remember that you are a cherished spiritual being when you're burping up apple fritters and Cheetos.
Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.
...because when people have seen you at their worst, you don't have to put on the mask as much.
And the days went by like paper in the wind. Everything changed, then changed again. It's hard to find a friend. It's hard to find a friend.
Winning friends begins with friendliness.
A friend, therefore, is a sort of paradox in nature. I who alone am, I who see nothing in nature whose existence I can affirm with equal evidence to my own, behold now the semblance of my being, in all its height, variety, and curiosity, reiterated in a foreign form; so that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
Treat a friend as a person who may someday become your enemy; an enemy as a person who may someday become your friend.
Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, Why wert thou not born in my father's dwelling?
Without a doubt, my richest relationships are my long-term friendships with musical partners, because we make music together. That's what we love to do with our lives.
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