“The greatest gift you can offer anyone
is their complete freedom.
Freedom to love, to laugh, to cry,
to feel scared, angry, insecure,
full of doubt or full of joy.
To hold them in a safe and sacred space.

You don't exist to make anyone else happy.
But you can be present.
Present to their unhappiness, their excitement.
Present to the life that moves in them.

And you can invite them into a deeper Happiness.
The Happiness of Being itself.
The Happiness that holds them
exactly as they are.

The way you hold them now.

The way the ground holds the flowers, the trees, the great mountain ranges.

The way you were held as a little one.

And before the stars were born.”

Original: La vita di qualcuno, la rendi felice dicendogli sinceramente "ti amo", "mi manchi", dedicandogli attenzioni e trasmettendogli la gioia che provi ogni giorno... per la sua esistenza.
Source: prevale.net

From a review of the revised edition of “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White published in Esquire, November 1959.

Source: A Woman's Thoughts About Women (1858), Ch. 10

1978

Source: Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

The Last Lecture (2007)

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover

Source: The Dead of Night