The May Scrapbook—A Living Document
Quotes I've encountered in May that I'm loving—continually updated and curated.
Published May 7, 2025
I dropped off in April on my scrapbooks and underlines (all still occurred longhand, but were not transferred to Ye Olde Internet) so I'm back with some quotes, thoughts, and scraps that have resonated with me lately.
I'm always curious, and would love any new readers who haven't yet had this conversation with me to chime in. Do you prefer a book in its entirety, and feel like that context is crucial to the line? Or do you like to extract and copy-paste and splinter it all? I'm a bit of both.
In some ways, a quote will always have a dual meaning—that divorced from its broader work (the Pinterest saves, the "oooh, that's good")—and then also what it means solely in the texture of a given story. But that's everything, so I'm of the opinion that you can never evaluate a book "objectively"; memory, your context, timing, recent reads, etc,. all matter, because those books are all in conversation with another. The former isn't incorrect, but it's also not entire. Anyway! A fun meta-thread to follow. Exegesis, mmmm.
“All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. — Flannery O'Connor”
“The hedonistic paradox states that people who seek happiness for themselves will not find it, but people who help others will. — Daniel Z. Lieberman MD and Michael E. Long, The Molecule of More.”
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“Just remember that sometimes, the way you think about a person isn't the way they actually are. — Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“'Emotions are about action. And the preparation and intention for action.' I'd never considered feelings as action-oriented, but once I do, I see it everywhere. The Dutch social psychologist Batja Mesquita has said that emotions can be thought of as 'relational acts between people' rather than simply mental states that reside within us. Emotions require exertion—they are expressed outwardly, so that they can make something happen. — Bonnie Tsui, On Muscle.”
“Love the discipline you know then let it support you. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.”
“The haunting, beautiful, stomach-twisting truth is that no matter how cult-phobic you fancy yourself, our participation in things is what defines us. — Amanda Montell, Cultish.”
“Take it all back. Life is boring, except for flowers, sunshine, your perfect legs. A glass of cold water when you are really thirsty. The way bodies fit together. Fresh and young and sweet. Coffee in the morning. These are just moments. I struggle with the in-betweens. I just want to never stop loving like there is nothing else to do, because what else is there to do? — Pablo Neruda”
“You inhabit another realm when you are writing a novel. It's like being in love—being 'in novel.' — Luisa Valenzuela”
“So they would jump into the water and feel the cold hit them like ice daggers. Ice daggers shooting up their eyes and jabbing the tops of their skulls from the insides. Then they would move their arms and legs a few times and haul themselves out, quaking and letting their teeth rattle; they would push their numb limbs into their clothes and feel the painful recapture of their bodies by their startled blood and the relief of making their brag true. — Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman.”
“We gather our arms full of guilt as though it were precious stuff. — John Steinbeck, East of Eden.”
“During the dry years, the people forgot about the rich years, and when the wet years returned, they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way. — John Steinbeck, East of Eden.”
