Memoirists From The United States

"And all of this is unfolding before my very eyes on an average day, begging the question: WHY. IS. EVERYONE. IN. SUCH. A. DAMN. HURRY? Why the constant rush?"

"Once the innocence was wiped clean from my eyes, I saw life for what it is: complicated."

"The world is filled with things that need fixing. All it takes to make a difference is an idea, a little initiative, and the determination to make it happen."

"Don't allow yourself to settle for just anything in your life. Strive to obtain your every want and desire, as long as you're not harming others."

"Hard choices are never easy and nearly always stressful, especially when they affect the trajectory of the rest of your life. Growing up is full of many little steps, hops, and big leaps, none of them easy. Pushing myself to move out of my comfort zone was the best decision I've ever made. There are many bites to take out of this big wide world, and the opportunities are endless. The only thing holding you back from experiencing them is yourself and the false limitations you've imposed on yourself. Just you. No one else. Big leaps take time. Sometimes you just have to leap and have faith in yourself. I headed to LA and placed all my bets on this one trip, believing it would open a new chapter in my life. That was all I could hope for."

"The feeling of loneliness is temporary. It can easily be replaced by another feeling or action. Now, when I'm feeling down, I pick up the phone and call a friend for a chat or to meet. How can you be lonely if there is always someone to reach out to or spend time with? Loneliness really is a state of mind. A thought is only as strong as you allow it to be."

"life waits for no one eventually is not okay why tomorrow when there is today?"

"Finding yourself is a lifelong journey. Everyone's path to self-discovery is bound to be different."

"Today, little things make me happy, like going for a walk, getting coffee with a friend, or creating something original. Really, I find happiness in everything now. We all go through grim times. But instead of resisting the struggle like I did, embrace it, accept it, and give the matter time to figure itself out."

"The future is as bright as you let it shine. Don't be tricked into seeing it dimly. Don't be fooled into believing that this, where you are right now, is all you get. Your potential is endless. Just act. Act now. Right now. Leap. Live. Love. What are you waiting for? Go. Get started. You're a special bunch and are going to do great things in the world."

"I refuse to let this world abuse my already beaten soul"

"I don't know what sparked it in my mind, but I happened to be staring at myself, dead in the eyes, in the bathroom mirror. "I'm gay," I told my reflection. What happened next surprised even me: I smiled. Through all the pain, I actually smiled, feeling a sudden rush of relief, as if being freed from a choking grip. I knew this was just the beginning of a breakthrough. Next, I needed to tell someone. [...] My friend's acceptance was liberating. I was free. I was the real me. From that point on, it was the case of finding the courage, and the right time, to tell more and more people. Each of them said the same thing: "It's okay, Con. I still love you." They were all so great that I wished I'd told them earlier. Love trumps fear every time. My journey, and the evolving process of staying true to myself, won't stop there. I am, like everyone else, still figuring myself out on a daily basis. But this path I've been walking is clearer than it has ever been. The fog has lifted, and the possibilities are endless. This story isn't about sexuality. It's about overcoming our biggest fears. It's about seriously examining whatever it is that may be holding us back."

"I would rather have one amazing best friend than a hundred decent regular friends. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. True friendship is counted in memories, experiences, and troubles shared; it's a bond built up over time in person, not a virtual tally on the Internet. It finds you; you don't find it. A relationship forms, you discover common interests, and you realize this bond is the closest thing to romance that is possible. Yes, that's it: true friendship is a relationship without sex or attraction. It doesn't judge, gossip, flake, and get envious. It stands by you through thick and thin. It supports you at your lowest ebb and celebrates with you at your highest point. It allows you to be yourself, good and bad. And it's a two-way street: you give and take equally. Whether it's the friends who have walked with you or the friends who await you in the future, the value of true friendship is golden."

"There have been instances when I've spent more time worrying that I'm missing out on something than actually enjoying what's right in front of me. And there, my friends, is the lesson to be learned. Life should be more about living in the moment than fearing what's happening outside it. It's about honoring what you want to do at any given time, regardless of what everyone else is doing."

"This is what happens in high school. We're exposed to what's not familiar while trying to work out who we are. We explore, make bad decisions, and learn from them. That's what high school is about: finding yourself, figuring out what makes you tick. Oh, the joys of being a complicated human."

"All that pressure you feel when you're growing up - especially self-imposed pressure - is not fun. It's no walk in the park to feel as if all eyes are on you, even when 99 percent of the time they're actually not."

"Social media is the most warped mirror to look into. You risk measuring your self-worth by the number of likes you receive. Here's the bottom line: if you're truly confident, you don't need to seek the likes of others. And if you're not so confident, then fuel your self-esteem with the love of your friends and family."

"Relationships are fire - they're about chemistry. No spark, no go. Once you find someone you find visually pleasing, you pursue him or her. If you discover that you also enjoy this person's personality, interests, and company and the feeling is mutual, you move to dating. If you're lucky enough for that to go well, you take it a step further and make it official. Congratulations! You're in a relationship with a real person! NICE! These three basic steps may sound simple and easy, but if you've ever made a real attempt at them, you'll find otherwise. Love is hard. Really hard! Love is about sitting in silence and enjoying every second of it simply because your partner is sharing it with you. Love is about reading another person's mind and finishing his or her sentences - because you know that person that well. Love is about wanting to be as physically close as possible because you can't get enough of the other's smell, feel, or mere presence. Love is about putting another person before yourself because, quite simply, when that person is happy, you're happy. Love is about staying in on the weekend, ordering Indian food, and putting on a new documentary because you wouldn't want to be with anyone else. [...] Love is love - an energy that fuses souls. [...] That love is out there. It exists and finds us all. And I hope you all find that one person who makes you want to ignore your phone and get lost in his or her company. That person is waiting for you (or maybe you have already found him or her)."

"Parents don't understand cool. Never have. Never will."

"Take it from someone who has changed his mindset: you can make "now" the place you want to be. Rub your eyes, focus, and see what's right in front of you: the gift of life. What you do with that gift is up to you. Every decision you take today is a building block for the future that awaits you."

"In my experience, if you let your scars own you, they will. Don't give them that power. Don't let them stunt your growth and progress."

"Know what you want and follow your gut. It's hard to truly know what you want and who you are. It's even harder to attune yourself to that inner voice that tells you what your heart is saying. You know it when something feels off, when you bristle, when you hear one big, fat screaming "NO!" in your head. Whatever the personal decision - in conversation, friendship, dating, career - pay attention to what your gut says, and not necessarily what you're told and what you think you should think (because then you'll overthink it). I always stick with my gut decision."

"In life, you need to allow yourself the room to do what you want to do with the precious time you're given. Give yourself permission. You then have to actually do it. Allow yourself to go there and add your splash of color to the world."

"Now there’s a real competition going on up here... My good friend Joe (Biden)... he’s received contributions from 44 billionaires. Pete (Buttigieg) on the other hand, is trailing, you only got 39 billionaires contributing."

"Hard to believe that @FoxNews is wasting airtime on Mayor Pete, as Chris Wallace likes to call him. Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats boring debates, and they just want in. They forgot the people who got them there. Chris Wallace said, “I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance...fascinating biography.” Gee, he never speaks well of me - I like Mike Wallace better...and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!"

"Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, similarly exploits liberals' lack of familiarity with rural culture to sell himself as the guy who can win the Midwest. Gone unmentioned is that he won a small mayoral election with roughly 8,000 votes - fewer than AOC won to beat Joe Crowley - and is running for president because he doesn't think Midwest voters will send him to the House or Senate."

"Non-English quote."

"Mayor Pete, people are like, “Wow! He speaks like a gazillion languages. Isn’t he so smart?” And I’m like, "Well, actually, you could go to many places in the world where people speak those gazillion languages, right, and they’re not positioned as smart in the same way.""

"At the end of the day, rights in this country have been expanded because courts have understood what the true meaning of the letter of the law and the spirit of the Constitution is. That is not about time traveling yourself back to the 18th century and subjecting yourself to the same prejudices and limitations as the people who write these words. The Constitution is a living document because the English language is a living language. And you need to have some readiness to understand that in order to serve on the court in a way that will actually make life better."

"How old are you? You don't look like you're old enough to be the mayor of anything."

"Iowa, you have shocked the nation."

"The problem is that they're telling us to look for greatness in all the wrong places. Because if there's one thing that the city of South Bend has shown, it's that there's no such thing as an honest politics that revolves around the word "Again". It is time to walk away from the politics from the politics of the past and towards something totally different. So that's why I'm here today. I'm here to join you to make a little news. My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me Mayor Pete. I am a proud son of South Bend, Indiana, and I am running for President of the United States."

"We have to recognize that the China challenge is a serious one. This is not something to dismiss or waive away. China is using technology for the perfection of dictatorship."

"We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern, and less materialism in young people."

"If anything I think my story might help illustrate why categories aren’t as important as we think. I’m a church-going, gay, millennial, Red State mayor. I’m also a left-handed Maltese American. I also spent Thanksgiving in a deer blind with my partner’s father. So am I supposed to be a Republican or a Democrat?"

"Military service used to be something that we had in common. It’s where people like a young John F Kennedy would meet farm kids and would work side by side with African Americans, maybe for the first time in their lives. At the time [in 2009] it felt like the reverse. It felt like it reinforced the divides."

"It's time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say. It's true that if we embrace a far left agenda, they're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they're going to do? They're going to say we're a bunch of crazy socialists. So let's just stand up for the right policy, go out there and defend it."

"A lot of folks were telling me I was the future while I was really trying to concentrate on the present. They would say all kinds of nice things and then swear up and down that I was their second vote, which was a nice way of saying, ‘I’m not going to vote for you.’"

"As a military officer serving under Don't Ask Don't Tell and as an elected official in the state of Indiana when Mike Pence was governor, at a certain point, when it came to professional setbacks I had to wonder whether just acknowloging who I was was going to be the ultimate, career-ending professional setback. I came back from the deployment and realised that you only get to live one life and I was not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any longer. So I just came out. I had no idea what kind of professional setback it would be especially cos, incoveniently, it was an election year in my socially conservative community. What happened was that when I trusted voters to judge me on the job that I did for them, they decided to trust me and re-elected me with 80% of the vote and what I learned was that trust can be reciprocated and that part of how you can win and derserve to win is to know what's worth more to you than winning."

"I am a Democrat because I believe in protecting freedom, fairness, families, and the future."

"The economic equivalent of a tornado did go through town. And it's not just in a symbolic way. It's in a physical way. You look at some of these buildings, and it literally looks like a bomb went off or like a natural disaster happened. So, you know, getting past that legacy - and if I don't I'll be in trouble - getting past that legacy is not going to be easy, and it's not going to be obvious."

"I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay. It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it’s just a fact of life, like having brown hair, and part of who I am. Putting something this personal on the pages of a newspaper does not come easy. We Midwesterners are instinctively private to begin with, and I’m not used to viewing this as anyone else’s business. But it’s clear to me that at a moment like this, being more open about it could do some good."

"The real challenge for the Democratic Party, and its presidential candidates in particular, is to figure out how to reverse the Right’s stranglehold on our political vocabulary, without adopting the kind of lock-step dogmatic monolithism that empowered the likes of Gingrich. I don’t have a quick solution handy, but I’m pretty sure that if the Dems don’t act fast to reclaim our language, they risk losing the word battle before they realize they’re fighting it."

"Politics is in my bones. I grew up hearing my parents hollering at the TV."

"A new attitude has swept American politics. Candidates have discovered that is easier to be elected by not offending anyone rather than by impressing the voters. Politicians are rushing for the center, careful not to stick their necks out on issues. Most Democrats shy away from the word “liberal” like a horrid accusation."

"On one hand, the right wing is replete with personalities who undermine everything they profess to stand for. Across the aisle, members of a Democratic party, aghast at the hypocrisy of their counterparts’ personalities, seem themselves reluctant to demonstrate any personality at all."

"I think, consciously or not, what we readers do each time we open a book is to set off on a search for authenticity. We want to get closer to the heart of things, and sometimes even a few good sentences contained in an otherwise unexceptional book can crystallize vague feelings, fleeting physical sensations, or, sometimes, profound epiphanies."

"Jane has learned that there is a fate more terrible than solitude: it’s solitude in the company of a husband who essentially misunderstands you."

"We read literature for a lot of reasons, but two of the most compelling ones are to get out of ourselves and our own life stories and—equally important—to find ourselves by understanding our own life stories more clearly in the context of others’."

"“Mr. Wonderful isn’t just going to knock on the door,” a girlfriend once said, chiding me. “Why not?” I thought. That’s the way people often meet in books—effortlessly, without guile or strategizing."