Quote of the Day: Unknown

Some quotes motivate you. Some quotes make you want to be crazy and young and wild. Some quotes inspire you to reflect on yourself and your priorities. Some quotes give you an opportunity to question things. Some quotes reaffirm your beliefs.

And some quotes make you desperately, honestly want to fall in love with the writer.

"I love unmade beds. I love when people are drunk and crying and cannot be anything but honest in that moment. I love the look in people’s eyes when they realize they’re in love. I love the way people look when they first wake up and they’ve forgotten their surroundings. I love the gasp people take when their favorite character dies. I love when people close their eyes and drift to somewhere in the clouds. I fall in love with people and their honest moments all the time. I fall in love with their breakdowns and their smeared makeup and their daydreams. Honesty is just too beautiful to ever put into words."

Whoever wrote this...you are a rare, rare gem. It appears to be written by a guy, but who really knows. And I don't even care. These words a raw in a beautifully chaotic way and it is my absolute favorite form of expression. It's a poem that's not really a poem, but a poetic introspection. 

Indulge in this. It's pure honesty.

~ Lacey :)

Quote of the Day: Ernest Hemingway

For today's daily dose of inspiration, Mr. Hemingway is making a generous reappearance. And again, he doesn't disappoint.

"Try to learn to breath deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough."

I guess this goes along with my recurring theme of never taking a single moment in life for granted. Dear Ernest makes a very earnest statement indeed here (I couldn't resist, I apologize). He's saying that we can't live life looking down. We have to be deliberate in everything we do, whether it's sleeping, eating, screaming, loving, crying, laughing...every single action we take and emotion we experience is special and unique and worthy of everything we have to put into it. 

I say follow his words. If you're going to eat, savor your meal. If you're going to sleep, do so deeply and dreamily. If you're going to laugh, annoy everyone around you with that snort your get embarrassed about. If you're going to get angry, scream at the top of your lungs and communicate how you feel (within reason, obviously; don't end up in jail). Cry hard, smile wide, breathe resolutely. There is only one life here on Earth. Start living it.

Because, as Mr. Hemingway so delicately put it, you will be dead soon enough.

~ Lacey :)

Quote of the Day: Matthew Gray Gubler

If you even know me in the vaguest way--meaning, you at least follow me on Twitter--then you know that crime shows are one of my most consuming obsessions. You'll probably know this because about half my tweets are about Criminal Minds, NCIS, or Law and Order: SVU. I'm pretty open about this addiction, so maybe it's no surprise that I've found a pretty striking quote from one of the actors in one of the shows.

Of all my crime shows, Criminal Minds is bordering on my favorite (although NCIS has a very, very special place near and dear to my heart, so they're always vying for the top spot). And of all the main characters, each of whom I have developed ridiculously deep-rooted feelings for, Dr. Spencer Reid, the young, quirky genius played by the magnificent Matthew Gray Gubler, has always been the biggest conundrum to me. He's adorable, disarmingly attractive in the kind of way that's not in your face, and best of all he has the demeanor of a puppy who's a little out of place in its litter. But perhaps even more interesting is the actor himself, who is so full of wise words and quirky romantic vibes that I'm surprised he is not married with about a zillion children right now.

I'm sure more of his quotes or whatever I decide is cool will make appearances on this blog, but this quote in particular really tugged at the girl inside of me who has always felt like that puppy that doesn't quite belong with its brothers and sisters.

"I think it's perfectly acceptable and rather admirable to be moderately delusional."

Oh, Mr. Gubler, it's like you understand every dreamer's biggest fear--that maybe having big hopes and wishes somehow makes us weak and stupid. But, as confirmed in this quote, that's not the case. Being a dreamer is not only okay, it's admirable. It's a quality that people should want to have, and people who don't have it should honestly be a little jealous of those who do.

This, of course, is great news for me, because being a dreamer is one hundred percent what I am best at.

And I guess that's admirable.

~ Lacey :)

Quote of the Day: J. K. Rowling

I'm going to preface this post by saying I have always been and forever will be J. K. Rowling's Number One Fan. I picked up the first Harry Potter book in first grade, inhaled it, and then spent all of second and third grade completing what was then published of the series. And when the sixth and seventh novels were published, I pre-ordered them and read them both within twenty-four hours of them falling into my hands. I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't come up for air. I just drowned in the world she had created.

For these reasons and much more, Rowling has been a huge influence and inspiration for a mere literary mortal such as myself. So naturally, many of her words have plucked at my heartstrings and played games with my mind. But this particular quote of hers spoke loudly to me:

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live life so cautiously that you might as well not have lived with all - in which case, you fail by default."

Everyone and their mother has heard a quote or two about how failure is unavoidable and about how failures can be an opportunity to start anew. But none of these other quotes really computed in my head. I think the reason this quote has wormed its way into my mind is because all the other quotes just go along the lines of "failure is normal, pick yourself up off the ground and start again". But Rowling goes even farther to say that if failure is not happening in your life because you are doing everything in your power to avoid such a fate, you are failing. She makes failure seem almost... beautiful. And for someone like me, who is so scared of breaking through my comfort zone, who is so afraid of rejection, who trembles at the very thought of making myself look stupid because I decided to reach for something a little higher than I usually do... that gives me a tremendous hope.

So I guess what Rowling means to say is... failure to fail is failure.

 It's a beautiful paradox, don't you think?

~ Lacey :)

Quote of the Day: Ernest Hemingway

For today's quote I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Ernest Hemingway. He's a renowned author, and although unfortunately I can't tell you I've read any of his books, I can tell you that he comes highly recommended by my book savvy father. Hemingway is actually his favorite author, so my dad probably won't let me graduate high school without reading some of his work.

One of his little drops of wisdom rang particularly true for me:

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

The thing about this quote is that it is just so, so, so true. I love writing. In fact, it is above all the number one thing that I know I have some degree of talent in that I wouldn't mind doing for the rest of my life. But writing involves a certain self-sacrifice. It doesn't matter whether it's fiction or non-fiction or poetry or whatever. True writing is emptying the contents of your soul onto a blank page and then veiling that unadulterated emotion behind words so that you don't scar your readers with the pure intensity of what's in your heart. Love, pain, hate, anger, joy....they're all a part of the human experience, a part of each and every one of us. Writing conveys that. Writing connects the author and the reader and it lets them know they're not alone. Writing, by this rationale, might possibly the most personal and intimate form of communication that the world has to offer.

And also, I think it'd be really, really cool to have a typewriter.

Food for thought.

~ Lacey

Quote of the Day: C. S. Lewis

Good evening, world!

Today I'd like to share my current life's motto. Given the fact that I am, as the blog says, pretty scatterbrained, this is naturally bound to change as I grow and find myself in new places throughout life. For now, however, it pretty much sums up my entire existence.

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

I mean, yeah, sometimes I prefer coffee to tea, but other than that this quote is scarily accurate.

Side note: C. S. Lewis is one of my biggest inspirations in life, not only as a writer but as a person. He was full of such imagination, intelligence, wit, and faith, and for these reasons I will constantly use his words as guidance.

Until next time!

~ Lacey :)