Mitch Albom citations

Page 9

“It is too late."

The old man shook his head. "It is never too late or too soon. It is when it is supposed to be."

He smiled. "There is a plan, Dor.”

“If we knew what comes next, we never would have worried.”

“"Your voice will come. We all go through the same thing. You cannot talk when you first arrive." He smiled. "It helps you listen."”

“You can’t substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.”

“You cannot write if you do not read,” the blind man said. “You cannot eat if you do not chew. And you cannot play if you do not”—he grabbed for the boy’s hand—“listen.”

“It is never too late or too soon, the old man had said. It is when it is supposed to be.”

“What in life can love not penetrate?”

“Bad news has no limits. We often feel it should, like a rainstorm that can't possibly get any heavier. But a storm can always worsen, & the burdens of life can too.”

“It was sad, the imbalance of it all. Why do kids assume so much from one parent and hold the other to a lower, looser standard?”

“We move through places every day that would never have been if not for those who came before us. Our workplaces, where we spend so much time--we often think they began with our arrival. That's not true.”

“A mother's voice is like no other. We recognize every lilt and whisper, every warble or shriek.”

“You marked the minutes," the old man said. "But did you use them wisely? To be still? To cherish? To be grateful? To lift and be lifted?”

“Being unheard is the ground floor of giving up, and giving up is the ground floor of doing yourself in. It’s not so much, what’s the point? It’s more like, what’s the difference?”

“Once heaven is done with grandma, we'd like her back, thanks.”

“If you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more.”

“But you cannot change your past, no matter how you craft your future.”

“He almost told her everything right then, that very moment. But you grab a moment, or you let it pass. He let it pass.”

“This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.”

“As children grow, they gravitate to their fates.”

“Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.”

“This is a story about a family and, as there is a ghost involved, you might cal it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at out tables long after they have gone.”

“Because when the world quiets to the sound of your own breathing, we all want the same things: comfort, love, and a peaceful heart.”

“We all know how to be a child.”

“Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.”

“Don't get too attached to anything.”

“You can know the whole world and still feel lost in it.”

“People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does… And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.”

“If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow.”

“Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?”