10 Beautiful Literary Quotes To Live Your Life By
Words and phrases dance in your head as you go about your daily tasks. You may not even be aware of them but they’re there. Perhaps a book you read as a child is subconsciously driving you forward with the same fierce determination of Anne Shirley or Jo March.
Think about who shaped you as a child. Naturally, your parents or other relatives played a huge part. But who was with you in your imagination? Were you lost in Wonderland with Alice or braving life on the unsettled prairie with Laura? As you got older did you dream of meeting someone like Lancelot or having a friend like Phineas? These fictional characters gave us something to hope for. They became a part of us. It’s not just about following along with their story. It’s about harvesting the advice and experience we learned in those stories and applying them to our own lives.
Through reading, we learned more about ourselves and how to stay true to who we were becoming. Authors of these books showed us more about who we wanted to be, how we could overcome adversity, and even how to relate to others.
The words we filled our minds with as we grew helped shape us. I, for one, will be forever grateful that I came to know so many wonderful characters. They may be fictional but the insight they gave us into their experiences heavily influences how we navigate through our own lives. That’s as real as it gets.
Pouring over the pages of books provides us with a special understanding. There is nothing you can’t experience in a book. You can learn anything, go anywhere, and be anyone when you open the pages of a book. It’s a freedom unlike any other.
At the halfway point of my life, I can look back and see how much reading has impacted the way I view the world. These quotes are such a small illustration of the magic that happens as you turn the pages of a book. Your imagination can make the story as big as you want it to be.
It took me a long time to start living my life for me. I should have listened to John Irving much sooner. I hope you draw inspiration from these words just as I have. I’d love to know your favorite literary quotations. Post them in the comments below or send them to me on Twitter. I’ll be looking forward to sharing them.
All my love to you,
Anna Kat
P.S. - Here’s a bonus quote that I’ve always loved:
“Just because an animal is large, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.”
Everyone wants kindness. Even people who say they don’t. Sometimes we all make life a little too complicated. If you’ve ever been around me for any length of time, you’ve heard me say this time and time again. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. That’s the root of everything.