Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
“Host it. Don’t ghost it.”
When I was growing up, my mom and I used to collect quotes like other families might collect souvenirs. We’d scribble them down on notepads, print them out, tape them to mirrors or slip them between pages of books. Sometimes, it was just about sharing a feeling we didn’t have words for yet. Other times, it was like finding a lighthouse blinking through emotional fog. Quiet, but steady. Seen, but not intrusive.
And that’s the thing about quotes: they don’t always hit you the same way twice. Some arrive like fire, others like breath. Depending on where your heart is at that moment, they either land soft or carve deep. Sometimes they cradle you; other times they wake you up.
But a rare few? They stay.
No matter the season, no matter the state of your mind or the ache in your chest—those quotes feel like home. A few words, gently pulling you back to center.
One of mine is this:
“Your heart makes up what your brain doesn’t know.”
Because for a long time, I couldn’t hold rational thought and emotion in the same hand. I fractured. But when I learned to host my emotions instead of exiling them, they started carrying the parts of me that couldn’t walk on their own.
Another one I return to often:
“You can’t get syrup from a seed. You can’t get fruit from a fruitless tree.”
It reminds me to stop reaching for what someone was never able—or willing—to give.
These quotes aren’t just affirmations. They’re like spirit-levels for the soul. They recalibrate me when I drift, and I think that’s what the best quotes do. They hold the wisdom of lived experience and hand it to you like a warm drink on a cold day.
What about you?
Do you have a quote that always brings you back to yourself?
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