You Live and You Learn: My Favorite Quotes and What I Learned From Them

John Green once said, “Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than about the stories and people we're quoting.”

I am sure everyone has been told at one point or another, “you live and you learn,” and although personal experience is a valuable way to obtain knowledge, I also believe that living in someone else's world is a great way to gain understanding and become a more well-rounded person.

Growing up, I was blessed with a family who would constantly read to me. My parents always told me a bedtime story, my Grandad was (and still is) one of the most creative storytellers I know, and can make up an entertaining story on the fly. My Mimi was a librarian and would offer to come into my elementary school classrooms with a felt board and characters to read our class folktales, and my Poppy loved reading me and my sister Dr. Suess (especially the Lorax).

Once I figured out how to read for myself, you would never catch me without a book in hand. It’s a constant escape for me, a way to get out of my own thoughts and into the lives and stories of someone else. I have so many vivid memories of reading books and highlighting lines that stuck with me. I truly believe that a good quote can teach you a lot. I wanted to compile a comprehensive list of some of my favorite quotes, what they mean to me and what I have learned and implemented from each of them in my life.

“I have been bent and broken, but- I hope- into a better shape” - Charles Dickens

Quotes about hope have always been very important to me. I was taught that you can do anything you set your mind to and that hope is a very powerful force. I have a vivid memory of being in my 9th-grade literature class and reading Great Expectations for the first time. I recall underlining this line in my copy of the book and being struck by the effect it had on me. Grow through what you go through. No matter what happens to you, never lose the ability to hope for a better tomorrow.

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas change the world” - Dead Poets Society

Being fascinated with stories has never just been comprised of reading. I find myself captivated by most forms of media. I remember being quarantined for COVID-19 and being bored out of my mind. When I texted my sister and asked if she had any movie recommendations, Dead Poets Society was her first answer. Once it ended and my heart was broken, I scoured the internet to find quotes to add to my Pinterest board from the film. I was fascinated by how they had created such a community of comradery and change. Change can be scary, but it is inevitable. You can cultivate and create change within yourself and others and your words are a powerful tool to do so.

“Life offers up these moments of joy despite everything”- Sally Rooney

While reading my (now) favorite book, Normal People, for the first time I was annotating every page like crazy. I love books that really make you think, and ones with themes and lessons applicable to everyday life. The way in which you get to see multiple perspectives throughout the book helped me have a more concrete understanding of how two people can experience the same event in vastly different ways. When everything in life isn’t going your way and you feel like nothing good can come from your current situation, it is comforting to remember that life is not all good or all bad. You just have to be patient and look for joy everywhere. Eventually, the universe will send you something worth being happy for.

“Even if things don’t stay like this, I will always carry this moment in me”- Emily Henry

Beach Read by Emily Henry was one of my most recent reads. Having read People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers both by her, I was expecting a similar happy love story that leaves my heart warmed on the last page; I did not get exactly what I expected from this book. I was utterly blown away by it. I read this whole book in a day and right after I finished it my roommate arrived home and was immediately concerned for my well-being. My whole face was wet with tears and she asked me what was wrong. This quote was what was wrong. I cannot recall any other time in my life in which I have had such a visceral and physical reaction to one line. It is important to be able to hold onto a memory even if the people in that memory are no longer a part of your life. The feelings stay and every moment we experience we carry with us. Things can change, but our feelings about a memory should not be tainted by what may occur in the future.

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances” - William Shakespeare

No offense to the late playwright, but I find much of Shakespeare's work boring and hard to understand. This quote however has always been digestible and pertinent to most people's lives. Life is an act. The people in your life will not be there from beginning to end. Take the time you get with every person you get to meet. Understand that “People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” - Drew Chalker

You don’t need a quote to define you; however, I find it helpful to put my feelings into someone else's words. Knowing another person has experienced something similar can make you feel far less alone, and seeing the world from another point of view can only broaden your horizons. Whatever happens to you, you can hope your way through it, create change through your words and ideas, find the joy, recall happier memories and put it in perspective.

“whatever happens to me, I know it's for the better” -Phoebe Bridgers

Strike Out,

Blake Witmer

Editor: Gianna Rodriguez

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