《Tuesdays with Morrie》

Author: Mitch Albom
Publisher: Time Warner Books
First Published Year: 1997

an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson

Quotes from the book:

1. Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurt you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.

2. The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.

3. Some many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving each others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

4. If you really want it, then you'll make your dream happen.

5. You closed your eyes. That was difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too, even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling.

6. Everyone knows they're going to die but nobody believes it.

7. Everyday have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, "Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?"

8. Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.

9. Love each other or perish.

10. Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent.

11. The tribe in the North American Arctic, who believe that all things on earth have a soul that exists in a miniature form of the body that hold it. When the large dies, that tiny form lives on. It can go to a temporary resting place in the sky, in the belly of a great feminine spirit, where it waits until the moon can send it back to earth. Sometimes, they say the moon is so busy with the new soul of the world that it disappears from the sky. That is why we have moonless night. But in the end the moon always returns, as do we all.

12. If you are trying to show off for the people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for the people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.

13. Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am born. Mahatma Gandhi

14. Love is how you stay alive.

15. Being fully present: When I am talking to you, I am thinking about you.

16. Marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.

17. People are only mean when they're threatened and that's what our culture does. If you don't buy it, you'll start building your own subculture. Building your own little subculture doesn't mean that you disregard every rule of your community. I don't go around naked, I don't run though red lights, for example. The little things I can obey. But the BIG things - How we think, what we value, those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone or any society to determine those for you.

18. It is 1979, a basketball game in the Brandeis gym. The team is doing well, and the student section begins a chant, "We're number one! We are number one!" Morrie is sitting nearby. He is puzzled by the cheer. At one point, in the midst of "We're number one!" he rises and yells, "What's wrong with being number two?" The students look at him. They stop chanting. He sit down, smiling and triumphant.

19. Be passionate and take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world will be so much better a place.

20. Forgive yourself before you die. Then, forgive others.

21. As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here. Death ends a life, not a relationship.

22. In business, people negotiate to win. They negotiate to get what they want. Maybe you're too used to that. Love is different. Love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own.

Question for myself:
I buy the book or I buy the lessons?