100 Quotes from
“What Makes One Beautiful”
“Love for colors. An appreciation of light.”
“Empathy in thoughts and design.”
“Human warmth. Beastly passion. Loyalty.”
“Respect for straight lines. Love for curves.”
“Emotional independence.”
“An ability to walk alone, and loving the same.”
“Saying ‘no’ when you can’t say ‘yes’, without having to invent a lie.”
“Working not to earn but to contribute to the world.”
“Not needing to say, “hey, listen” before saying what one wants to say in a way that ought to be inspiring listening.”
“Defending the defenseless. Behalf-ing the voiceless.”
“Curating children’s paintings. Spitting on spelling bees.”
“Not rating everything. Burying tourist traps.”
“Carrying a pen on one at all times.”
“Giggling. Doodling. Doodling and giggling.”
“Using the word “love” more often than you would like.”
“Growing vegetables. Gifting flowers.”
“Living. Not just reading. Being. Not just breathing.”
“Producing more than consuming.”
“People-watching. Not sitting with blinders on.”
“Understanding human condition. Helping understand.”
“Reasoning. Not lynching.”
“Having a large vocabulary. Using only the simplest of words.”
“Knowing intellectual masturbation never leads to a climax.”
“NYT Metropolitan Diaries. Not just WSJ acquisitions & mergers.”
“Dear Dad. Not just Dear John.”
“Not wasting food. Not hoarding things. Not banging doors.”
“Not paying for T-shirts on top of tuition.”
“Creating art for art’s sake. Making home the centerpiece to life.”
“Loving Farnsworth House, not just Carnegie Hall. Visiting varsities, not just museums. Using ink and paper, not just Mac and pads.”
“Realizing not doing is also talking. Comprehending non-cooperation. Believing in labor strikes.”
“Understanding planes take you to your destination and trains to your destiny.”
“Giving chance a chance. Knowing New York is built on chance and dare, not rock n’ roll.”
“Fighting. Remaining in the arena. Sitting tight. Camping. Holding head high even when crushed under boots. Dying with a good story well told.”
“Not apologizing for everything. Not dressing up for every occasion.”
“Not misunderstanding people by the large number of books on their shelves.”
“Living deeply. Not surfing. Sucking out all the marrow of life. Not passing. Gridlocking. Plowing. Hell-raising.”
“Anchoring. Dissecting. Deep-learning.”
“Loving verbs more than nouns. Walking more than driving. Listening more than talking.”
“Trusting everyone’s emotional intelligence. Leaving more things unsaid than said.”
“Telling and kissing. Not kissing and telling.”
“Understanding, in New York, everyone needs a therapist, and everyone is everyone else’s therapist.”
“Rescuing lost pencils. Doing Route 66 at least once.”
“Noticing how sharing turns feelings into dialogue, and how saving can turn feelings into songs.”
“Seeing the Sistine Chapel in everything. Carrying “The Alchemist” in your heart.”
“Taking long breaths when needed. Forgetting to breathe when it so happens.”
“Humming. Whistling. Teasing. Surprising. Annoying. Sitting on floor. Cooking. Doing dishes. Calling parents. Understanding love is an ability, not an emotion.”
“Killing it with kindness. Keeping mum nevertheless.”
“Writing, regularly. Typing, lovingly. Serif, sparingly. Sans serif, steadily. Spacing, generously. Editing, constantly. Sharing, unashamedly.”
“Knowing you get to live only once. Knowing you can only be yourself. “
“Knowing Bookers and Pulitzers, Globes and Oscars, Emmys and Tonys are personal opinions of extremely talented and supremely small section of a billion adequately-informed end-users.”
“Understanding demographics. Building a cabin in the woods.”
“Giving the one you love a T-shirt that says “Nuclear Shelter”.”
“Denting the world while being a speck in the universe.”
“Building fire. Being fire. Raging into the night.”
“Not drawing lines. Just thinking outside boxes. Not wallowing in self-pity. Just looking at silver linings.”
“Not caring to look mighty strong all the time. Understanding crying is soul taking its rare shower.”
“Encountering originals. Not networking without a mind. Trusting instincts. Not referrals. Following intuition. Not algorithms.”
“Rationality. Not majority. Meritocracy. Not blind equality.”
“Punching, punching, punching. Sweating, sweating, sweating. Learning, learning, learning. Consolidating. Fortifying. Bull-horning. Blindsiding. Dictating.”
“Working printing presses.”
“Knowing you can’t beat German engineering. Nor Japanese integrity. Nor Chinese pricing. Nor American marketing. Idiots spending. Indians saving. Banks stealing. Africans smiling. Me watching. You tweeting. CIA giggling. Canaries singing. Fish dying. Understanding the whole world. Remaining a sthithapragn.”
“Knowing learning French doesn’t automatically make you cool. Getting Converse shoes that will do.”
“Realizing business schools don’t make you a leader, nor film-schools a filmmaker, nor psychology degrees a therapist.”
“Expanding on the natural spring within. Discovering destiny one link at a time.”
“Using sarcasm like salt, not water.”
“Butter on croissant. Ghee in lentils. Peanut butter on Wonder Bread. Feet firmly on ground. A place for everything and everything in its place. Political correctness where it belongs. Snowflakes where the sun doesn’t shine.”
“Reason free from passion. Passion free from judgment.”
“Knowing periods help less and commas more in building a better world.”
“Noticing writing is actually self-help. And walking is in fact flying.”
“Fighting pharma peddlers. Questioning therapists. Stripping mentors. Spotting Salieris. Combating hierarchies. Breaking ceilings. Quizzing everything. Doing something with everything life throws at you.”
“Knowing what you have where you are is a good start. Knowing future doesn’t ask for graduation certificates.”
“Knowing what you would do even if you didn’t get paid is what will eventually pay you in loads.”
“Knowing your game. Not playing by their rules.”
“Disrupting, disrupting, disrupting.”
“Being a destiny’s child. Being a terror. Being yourself.”
“Understanding domestic bliss is the secret sauce in Edward Hopper’s saturated shades.”
“Not minding blooming where you are planted. Understanding garages are meant to house start-ups, not cars.”
“Giving into suspension-of-disbelief. Not forgetting magical realism is the subconscious helping the conscious stay in the game through abstract suggestion.”
“Remembering love is blind, and therefore avoiding hiding from it behind your sunglasses. Understanding true love can come calling from behind, and therefore avoiding noise-cancelling headphones. Believing in seeing. ‘Cos seeing is believing. Jaaniye, Heeriye, love will find a way.”
“Enjoying being just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to spell his heart. Enjoying being just a boy standing in front of a girl asking her not to call you weird.”
“Losing manners for health every now and then. Rubbing spit on wounds when none is looking.”
“Not judging a book by its cover. Knowing “The New Yorker” is all covers.”
“Not wearing NASA cap while not working for NASA.”
“Not eating while not contributing. Not speaking while not adding. Not taking while not giving.”
“Giving. Giving it all. Hoping. Hoping for all. Living. Living through everything.”
“Loving LBDs. Praising polkas. Standing by solids. Believing in monos. Trusting two-tones. Knowing you don’t need more.”
“Knowing shoes are a whole meal. Not forgetting beating heart is the real deal.”
“Not fearing heartbreaks. Not missing new beginnings.”
“Starting everything compulsively from scratch. Throwing crumpled paper balls straight into baskets.”
“Placing faith in complete unknowns. Doing Dylan.”
“Trying succinctly-put. Talking only sense.”
“Knowing, if you haven’t been served the stew, it is because it is still cooking.”
“Sitting straight. Being straight. Standing tall. Rising above.”
“Turning slices of life into tiny stories. Tying undone shoelaces of children.”
“Throwing feed to ducks. Nuts to squirrels. Squirrels to nuts. Liars to lions.”
“Piecing together shreds of randoms into new leases of lives”
“Whispering your wildest secrets to horses.”
“Not shooting immigrants. Not selling fakes. Not buying Crocs. Never saying never-in-my-jeans.”
“Believing one when one shows one’s true colors.”
“Being wealthy in not needing things.”
“Remembering what Krishna said to Arjuna. Orpheus to Eurydice. Clint Eastwood to Hillary Swank. Elwood to Jake. Steve Jobs to Stanford. Bill Watterson to Kenyon. Kipling to every son. Elizabeth Otis to every girl.”
“Being rich, acting normal. Being poor, acting normal. Beginning with the man in the mirror.”
“Knowing elephants are given small eyes so everyone would appear only too big for them to hurt. Realizing pretty women buy big mirrors so they can stay humble. Accepting men erect tall nothings not for a reason. Understanding I would choose a hug over a lay not because I am an idiot.”
“Etching single words on paper. Just because you love them. Making paper planes when done etching. Letting go.”
“Watching rain. Nicknaming neighbor’s twins Pittar-Pattar.”
“Getting inventive. Not waiting outside Michelin stars.”
“Not killing mockingbirds. Not jumping into mass hysterias.”
“Saying noes. Pissing all over peer pressures.”
“Asking nepo babies out on dates. Missing train in the last minute. Repeating. Inviting trust-fund babies to benefit dinners. Allowing them to do the honors. Repeating. Spotting sugar daddies in shopping malls. Curtsying and asking how the family back home is doing. Repeating.”
“Respecting LGBTIQA+. Refusing to lose any more alphabets. Loving the rainbow. Understanding the real rainbow is when you are open enough for light to pass through.”
“Stopping explaining things you can’t explain.”
“Two dozen roses makes sense and one dozen looks plain stupid.”
“Getting your heart broken only twice a month.”
“Dropping postcards home without signing name or place. Just so mom knows you are safe and sound somewhere, and very lonely.”
“Not looking a cop in the eye. Charming the pants off FDNY.”
“Climbing those steps. Not taking no elevators.”
“Walking into rooms. Spotting who the boss is in two seconds.”
“Understanding, after everything is said and done, love is laughing at you because you just realized love is above all. “
“Quitting smoking. Chewing calculus. Losing attitude. Memorizing Periodic Table.”
“Not gambling. Not trusting suits. Not suffering fools. Not clogging 911 lines.”
“Not expecting special treatment just because you chose to dress certain way. Not demanding jobs just because you chose to walk certain way.”
“Accepting New Yorkers are so loveless that they have to pet every dog on the street.”
“Indulging life around. Putting romance back in New York romance.”
“Being content. Being the personification of being content. Being a giver. Being get-outta-here.”
“Taking deep breaths in front of florists.”
“Acting like a tourist in your own city just so tourists can pretend like locals for you.”
“Listing that couch just so the next Ed Sheeran can one day forget your name on tonight’s show.”
“Understanding no matter how many dreams you dream only to fall short of realizing, you can, still, every single waking minute of your life, put into this world what you alone are gifted to add.”
“Der learning German. Not falling for the French.”
“Keeping noises low. Expletives funny. Pranks sincere.”
“Respecting New York deaths by calling the nearest florist and a real estate agent in the same breath.”
“Being dark while all you are trying doing do is create humor.”
“Understanding understanding human condition begins with getting punched in the face.”
“Standing in front of rich prep schools with face covered in bandages just to help them prep better.”
“Being an angel. Living only in invisible mode. Not needing more than 60 minutes to pack and leave town. Leaving. Living.”
“Not renting an apartment in a building with the name, “The Address”. Not walking into a cafe that calls itself, “Le Cafe”. Not buying a perfume, “The One”.”
“Bringing home a muffin, if she got you a bagel in the morning. Making coffee even if she didn’t make love the night before.”
“Getting only smaller cupcakes. ‘Cos smaller cupcakes taste better. Smaller cupcakes taste better ‘cos they look cuter. Not questioning love’s theories.”
“Noticing the taste of cutting chai comes to it from a very slow and a very long burn. Much like to a life well struggled for.”
“Respecting wrinkles. Loving scars. Kissing wounds. Licking tears.”
“Reading survivor stories.”
“Understanding you never truly understand violence unless you are at the receiving end of it.”
“Not making your lack of experience be a penalty for the fighters you have difficulty understanding.”
“Not saying, “it’s not the end of the world” to those who just came from there.”
“Leaving room for everything. Believing a bit in even those with not a bit of credibility.”
“Knowing you are never too far from your own Orwellian future.”
“Keeping conscience clear. Nerves strong. Faith solid.”
“Not being an ostrich. Not being a frog. Not burrowing heads in sands. Not thinking the well is the whole universe.”
“Not declaring a footlong a lie when you haven’t even tasted a 6-inch sub.”
“Understanding one fighting for one’s rights is one fighting for everyone’s rights.”
“Noticing how quieter one becomes as one’s war is longer. Seeing how stronger one becomes as one’s cross gets heavier. Watching how funnier one’s expression gets as one’s trails get harder.”
“Cherishing humor born out of pathos. Gold out of fire. Diamonds out of oppression. Steel out of clenched teeth. Beauty out of breaking. Poetry out of agony. Agility out of struggling. Empathy out of suffering. Benevolence out of bankruptcy. Wisdom out of having seen it all. Philosophy out of understanding it all.”
“Realizing you have to really ask the harvest, if you really want to know the good the plow did to the innocent field.”
“Not mistaking quantity for quality. Abundance for contentment. Connections for friends. Posts for works. Arm-candies for loves. Selfies for memories. Texts for letters. Words for songs. Tiffany blue for cerulean blue. Burlington for Savile Row. Armchair for activism. Twitter for labor.”
“Forever creating value and supply. Not fine print and false demand. Constantly building meaning and permanence. Not real estate and profit. Readily making fire and love. Not heat and labor.”
“Locking eyes wee bit longer while thanking someone. Not looking down while saying something nice to anyone.”
“Drafting your own speeches. Upsetting people just to help them feel alive.”
“Responding to first responders with utmost respect. Getting out of the frame of news cameras at work.”
“Never accepting a meeting unless the table is big enough to work on.”
“Understanding you can reach any place within 30 blocks on foot in the same time it takes a bus. Doing it in increments of 30 blocks just to fool yourself into fitness.”
“Understanding all writing is photosynthesis. Human warmth producing love.”
“Staying in the sun. Being a sun.”
“Remembering love’s SPF. Offering more than a lotion. Putting yourself out there. Because, love, actually, is all around.”
“Calling back every time you say you would. Rising for the occasion even when you didn’t promise you would.”
“Understanding media clutter. Realizing the best logo is one even a kid can reproduce in two seconds.”
“Keeping quiet when enemies are making mistakes. Quieter while friends are facing tests of friendship.”
“Posting restroom codes on cafe doors. Not pulling one too many paper towels.”
“Stepping into the morning rays. Not getting your vitamins from the corner store.”
“Sending more than thoughts and prayers.”
“Understanding, if you are irritated by horns blaring, those poor kids who never had toys grew up to become ambulance drivers.”
“Distilling truth. Carrying your own compass. Cutting through crap.”
“Pitching tent. Understanding the stillness of heart. Ditching home. Responding to the restlessness of feet.”
“Living on bread. Birkenstock-ing the hell out of Lonely Planet.”
“Visiting India. Riding through sarson da khet on Royal Enfields.”
“Realizing New York is an answer, not a city. Understanding liberty is a fight, not a statue.”
“Knowing those who look like creative types just spend well on grooming products. Understanding you don’t know gold from dog sh*t unless you scratch the surface.”
“Noticing how light travels faster than sound. Understanding some look intelligent until they start talking.”
“Understanding forgiveness is a mark of strength. Realizing ghosting is the hallmark of the weak.”
“Reaching venue without consulting maps. Finding bagels without joining lines. Spotting loves without loading apps.”
“Misspelling Vuitton for fun. Erasing ‘i’ in Fendi. Exposing Vulgari.”
“Understanding dressing rich is one thing and being rich is another. Noticing expensive pens are one thing and good penmanship is another.”
“Realizing having a good dog is one thing and being a good master is another.”
“Understanding grooming yourself in that certain look for your job is one thing and being right for the job is another.”
“Noticing underdogs do more wonders to our morale than sure winners.”
“Congratulating the groom, wishing the bride luck, not the other way around.”
“Book-lefting. Copy-lefting. Right-doing. Mic-dropping. Not winging. Not playing. Not judging. Not forgetting where it all started for yourself.”
“Telling mother you love her even when she burns your partner’s pancakes. Not telling you love a painting while you can’t even see it.”
“Understanding asking to be adored for biking 50 miles on a friction-less highway on a $5000 bike with zero weight and a dozen gears is like a kid charging a labor fee plus taxes for a visit to the candy store.”
“Playing sports. Not games. Ending runs. Not running.”
“Knowing the difference between ‘in five’ and ‘in an hour’, probably and possibly, good in bed and great in bed.”
“Realizing creating happiness with nothing at all is the mark of real men.”
“Knowing being 99% honest is not being honest. Understanding being ready for love when you have the time is not being ready for love.”
“Understanding mitigating circumstances. Forgiving love’s mistakes. Understanding absence-of-malice. Accepting apologies. Understanding cease-and-desist. Never repeating mistakes.”
“Not needing emotional crutches. For time heals all wounds. Not needing heels. For time wounds all heels.”
“Understanding it’s a process, process, process.”
“Understanding you both are on the same side when you are warring with each other.”
“Being needy when needy. Being a pillar of strength when need be. Being there always.”
“Understanding the usual answer is yes to food, no to drugs, white space in graphic design, and love in life.”
“Never missing the full moon. Not marrying into the same gene pool.”
“Invading. Conquering. Dismembering. Places in the heart. Not countries.”
“Not mistaking Broadway for theater. Nor inclusivity for quality. Nor conviction for truth. Nor earnestness for honesty. Nor success for love. Nor wealth for legacy. Nor offsprings for successors. Nor wild oats for adventure.”
“Understanding radioactive half-life. Knowing precisely when to quit.”
“Understanding moderation. Telling life who the boss for life is.”
“Not mistaking a stranger for a threat. Nor a drifter for a grifter. Nor a struggler for a hustler. Nor a dreamer for a writer. Nor a fake for a poet. Nor junk for a period piece. Manufactured hit for studio greatness. Self-indulgence for an auteur film. Plug for an editorial. Advert for a calling. Manipulation for an argument. Absence of war for peace. Pretended justice for justice. Elected government for able administration.”
“Remembering every wall is a door. Noticing every gap is a market. Every seed a tree. Every child a canvas. Every blank a song. Every prayer a religion. Every job a god.”
“Understanding twist-and-turn mechanism. Whirling to let go. Watching water under the bridge. Swimming to shed excess baggage.”
“Understanding compliments. Saying something when you see something.”
“Ensuring seamlessness. Not forgetting the most effective works are those that go totally unnoticed. Like good makeup. Or illicit children. Or backbench boys. Or girls who didn’t attend proms.”
“Learning proper breathing. Understanding what doing Vipassana can do.”
“Not forgetting the timelessness of David vs. Goliath. Nor the undying spirit of Joan of Arc. Nor the lesson from The Hare and The Tortoise. Nor Loving v. Virginia. Nor People v. Larry Flint. Nor Roe v. Wade.”
“Understanding credit. Not spending the money you don’t have.”
“Understanding slavery. Not giving into mortgage culture.”
“Appreciating freedom. Not forgetting the time you can keep for yourself to do what you love will prove a better investment than the money you can make doing something that’s not you.”
“Studying surface tension. Knowing how to separate disinformation from truth.”
“Staying quiet and dumb than talking and making it evident.”
“Picking up trash. Not laughing at trash.”
“Willing to give up a seat. Not losing that train of thought.”
“Understanding quest for truth is a dark comedy. Not forgetting individual change is a slow burn. Learning systemic change is an epic poem.”
“Not letting your left hand know the kindness your right hand extended.”
“Noticing how everything is hard before it is easy. Observing how some things are unforgiving until you dunk them in masala tea.”
“Being a sponge. Being an analyst. Being a monk.”
“Knowing it ain’t bar mitzvah until you go through fire.”
“Not letting the kid inside die a slow death. Not asking the dreamer to get real. Not expecting the romantic to give up.”
“The reason for living. The magic in being. The fortune in seeing. The joy in breathing.”
“Not postponing. Not speed-dating. Not fast-eating.”
“Staying calm. Searching within. Learning how to do without. Prospering bit by bit.”
“Good-will-ing. Do-good-ing. Hands-on-ing. Not-stop-ing.”
“Creating, creating, creating.”
“Knowing all you need is just one person to believe in you.”
“Staying open so lightning could strike.”
“Understanding you are everyone you’ve met.”
“Realizing depth has nothing to do with length, width and height.”
“Noticing many-to-one is the beginning of one-to-many.”
“Realizing the world might change you a bit before you can change the world.”
“Accepting love has nothing to do with anything except itself. Realizing heart is allowed to have reasons that reason knows not.”
“Not forgetting you have a right not to explain your life at all.”
“Feeling the pulse. Not the heat. Seeing the purpose. Not the distance. Seeing the path. Not the barriers. Seeing the whole. Not the sum of its parts.”
“Using just a candle’s light at nights. Fantasizing nothing but future.”
“Doing only one thing at a time. Keeping movements smooth and graceful.”
“Sculpting. Not just doing. Meditating. Not just working. Building. Not just adding.”
“Slogging. Finishing. Orgasming. Screaming from mountaintops. Sleeping like a log. Waking up with a dog.”
“Dreaming. Risking. Getting dirty. Getting dirtier.”
“Loving. Letting go. Loving. Letting go. Giving. Giving it all.”
“Living, living, living. Loving, loving, loving. Giving, giving, giving. Doing, doing, doing. Doing life. What makes one beautiful.”
Full Version: “What Makes One Beautiful”
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Quotes from “What Makes One Beautiful”
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