“There are only two words of advice you need to improve any relationship. Say It” 

“As Damasio puts it, human beings are “feeling machines that think” not “thinking machines that feel.” 

“If you’ve ever wondered why it’s so hard to make yourself do the things that you know will solve your problems and improve your life, the answer is simple. It’s your feelings.” 

“Whatever is happening right now, this is it. This is your life. And it’s not going to begin again. You can’t change the past, but in five seconds you can change your future.” 

“She said that she didn’t want to try out because, “What if I didn’t make it, Mom? What if I am not as good as I think I am? If I don’t audition, at least I can tell myself that I’m amazing—I’m just too lazy to have what I want.” 

“Waiting won’t help. Waiting will only make it worse. When you sit with fear and uncertainty your mind makes it expand; it’s called “the spotlight effect” and it’s one of the many tricks your brain plays in an attempt to keep you “safe.” 

“Dying before you’ve actually pushed yourself to live.” 

“It’s not safer to stay quiet. It’s not better to keep the peace. It’s not futile to try. It’s not risky. You are wrong. All your excuses and reasons are wrong. There is no “right time” to improve your life. The moment you move you’ll discover your strength. That’s the way to bring the REAL you to the table—by pushing the real you out of your head and into the world. And the best time to do it, is right now when your heart tells you to move.” 

“Silence is always the problem. Deciding not to say what you feel creates what researchers call “cognitive dissonance” between what you truly believe (in your heart) and what you actually do in the moment. Those problems build up and, over time, they can break your relationship.” 

One flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

Society is what decides who's sane and who isn't, so you got to measure up.

Does the Spearmint lose its flavor on the bedpost over night?

They are in contact on a high-voltage wavelength of hate...

The trouble with superheroes is what to do between phone booths.

The game goes round and round, to the rattle of dice and the shuffle of play money.

I was actually going out of the hospital with two whores on a fishing boat; I had to keep saying it over and over to myself to believe it.

But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.

. . .sometimes reading the same page over and over, until one sleepy afternoon something clicked, like a lock unlocking, and she saw those printed doors swing open on a vast house of words.

But I remember one thing: it wasn't me that started acting deaf, it was people that first started acting like I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all.

“If you get anything less than six hours of sleep a night on a consistent basis you are basically going through your day with the exact same physiological symptoms as if you were drunk. You have a foggy brain, you're forgetful, you're moody, you might even notice that your balance is a little bit off, you feel kind of heavy in terms of the emotional weight in your body, so you've got to get onto a great sleep schedule.” 

“Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I’d rather lie around. No contest. —ERIC CLAPTON” 

“You need to hear this loud and clear: No one is coming. It is up to you. It has always been and will always be up to you. You may never feel inspired or clearheaded enough to seize a moment, but you have to force yourself to do it even if you don’t want to. Nothing is changing unless you make it change.” 

“Waiting around for something to change will slowly kill you.” 

“#5SecondRule. When it comes to goals, dreams, and changing your life, your inner wisdom is a genius. Your goal-related impulses, urges, and instincts are there to guide you. You need to learn to bet on them.” 

“Jean-Baptiste also saw this. He wrote to me that he realized “that nobody was going to come and get me to live the life that I want to live and that taking action is the only way to create my own space into the world.” 

“You’ll never feel like doing what you must do.” 

“Leave nothing important unsaid.” 

“If you are wondering if the Rule works if you count forward 1- 2- 3- 4- 5, instead of backwards 5- 4- 3- 2- 1, the answer is no—it doesn’t. Just”

“When there’s no crisis and you are just stuck, it is much harder to force yourself to react. There’s no emergency. That’s why it is so easy to postpone action. Day in and day out you just do the same old thing.” 

They're out there. First line of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

He’s got hands so long and white and dainty I think they carved each other out of soap.

I want to touch him because I'm one of these queers!

...you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep in balance." [Chief Bromden]

Good writing ain't necessarily good reading.

You can make a mark across the night with the tip of an embered stick, and you can actually see it fixed in its finity. You can be absolutely sure of its treacherous impermanence. And that is all.

He's what he is, that's it. Maybe that makes him strong enough, being what he is.

We are the culture. All those people that are doing those dumb TV things and promoting hate…that’s the ‘counter’culture.

Man is certain of nothing but his ability to fail

McMurphy tied a chunk of meat to each end of a four-foot string, tossed it into the air, and sent two squawking birds wheeling off, "Till death do them part.

What a cheery atmosphere, don't you agree?

I'd give something to see that. Mostly, I'd just to look over the country around the gorge again, just to bring some of it clear in my mind again. I been away a long time.

I will be a sonofabitch if he ain't in here at eleven-thirty at night, fartin' around in the dark with a pair of scissors and a paper sack.

Ah, ah, ahhh ... first one gets mad, then one goes mad

I forget sometimes what laughter can do.

He's safe as long as he can laugh, he thinks, and it works pretty fair.

They’re out there. Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.

“Waiting for the right time to get real in your relationships is a fool’s errand. There is no right time to have the conversation, ask the hard questions, say “I love you,” or take the time to truly listen. There is only right now.” 

“Her moment of courage teaches us all that it’s not the big moves that change everything—it’s the smallest ones in your everyday life that do.”

“Waiting until you are ready will not make it happen. The world doesn’t work that way.” 

“You may be afraid of finding out that you suck, like my daughter was. Let me tell you what really sucks: being older and regretting that you never went for it. Being 30 and realizing you let fear of what your friends thought keep you from ever really putting yourself out there when you were younger. Friends, by the way, who you never talk to anymore. Being 56 and realizing you should have divorced your spouse ten years ago. Being 45 and wishing you had had the courage to take on a project at work that you now realize would have changed the trajectory of your career. Or sitting in college classes earning a degree to please your parents when knowing in your heart that you want to be doing something else with your life. There is no right time. There is only right now. You get one life. This is it. And it’s not going to begin again. It’s up to you to push yourself to make the most of it and the time to do it is right now.”