85 Quotes by Mary Schmich

I couldn’t have foreseen all the good things that have followed my mother’s death. The renewed energy, the surprising sweetness of grief. The tenderness I feel for strangers on walkers. The deeper love I have for my siblings and friends. The desire to play the mandolin. The gift of a visitation.

In twenty years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world, determined that one day, on the streets of Barcelona, in Berlin’s cabarets, in the coffee shops of Istanbul, people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory, dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York.

Books are like blankets, the mere sight of them around the house provides warmth and comfort. They are like mirrors, too, reflecting places I’ve been, phases I’ve been through, people I’ve loved or thought I did.

TV happens. And once it’s happened, it’s gone. When it’s gone, you move on, no tears, no tantrums, no videotape.

You can map your life through your favorite movies, and no two people’s maps will be the same.

The Hunger Games’ isn’t for everybody. But neither is ‘Anna Karenina.

One thing you might want to learn before you attend the world’s largest ukulele lesson is how to say ukulele.

On an average day, we allow ourselves the fiction that we own a piece of our workplace. That’s part of what it takes to get the job done. Deeper down, we know it’s all on loan.