Candid Wisdom and Wit

Inspired by dearest Olivia's perfect blog post today on finishing a John Green novel, I decided to share a few quotes said by the people who choose to grace my life, and maybe you all will realize why I pretend to be witty and wise (because compared to these people, I'm not).

"Falling in love with book characters is not so incredibly pathetic as it seems. It means that the reader is enjoying and loving something completely abstract, and that is a unique, advanced characteristic requiring a great deal of thoughtfulness and understanding. " 
-Olivia Parvin

"I think in poetry and colors and bits of sound and it really is beautiful, having the mind of a writer, but sometimes it just really hurts." -Coree Stuart

"I'm really good at things that don't matter." -Marshal Nichols ... (Not particularly poetic, but I thought about it for a while, and the longer you think about it, the deeper it gets.)

"We live in a culture where everyone is encouraged to 'be different, be yourself'. With everyone trying so hard to be different from everyone else, it's hard. But you're one of the few genuinely unique people I've ever met." -Ali Thomas

 "You can go anywhere and have the power of the one true living God inside you. And that makes you pretty darn mighty." -Dave Hutchings

"You always try so hard to make your life like a movie. But you're already like a movie, you don't have to try." -Matt Zimmerman 

And last but certainly not least, my all-time favorite, by the author of a hundred nuggets of wisdom. This has come back to me hundreds of times over the past few years. 

"Dear 4am,
The scariest things we submit ourselves to are hardly ever spiders or snakes or clowns. To me at least, the greatest fear is found in those moments in which you allow what people think of you to be replaced with who you are. And knowing that where you stand with them is inevitably going to shift." 
-Sarah Labanc

Chills.

All of these, though. Gosh. I live surrounded by poets. 

[Author's Note: If you come back to this post in days following, there may be some added. I can't think of any more right now, but I know they're floating out there in my mental universe. They'll come to me later.]