Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie

One of the inspirational book that moved me, heart and soul. Crafted beautifully by the mind and hand of now one of my favorite author Mitch Albom. I can't believe I highlighted almost all the lines in the book ;)

I admire the concept presented by the author on death, family, love, culture and aging. Understanding and accepting death. Decision to make a family. Learning to love fully. Creating your own culture. Embracing aging. So you can all the more marvel and enjoy life to the fullest.

Eureka moment.

Below are some, okay all of the lines, phrases and quotes from the book that I loved. Including my favorite Tuesdays sessions.

Photo courtesy of Ram Masinas :)

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I didn't want to forget him. Maybe I didn't want him to forget me --Mitch

I seek my identity in toughness -- but it is Morrie's softness that draws me --Mitch

And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. --Morrie

Love wins, love always wins. --Morrie

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. --Morrie

First Tuesday: We talked about the World

Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another. --Morrie

The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. --Morrie

Second Tuesday: We talked about Feeling Sorry for Yourself

I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. --Morrie

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. --Morrie

Third Tuesday: We talked about Regrets

The culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. --Morrie

We all need teachers in our lives --Mitch

Education is the only antidote to their poverty

Fourth Tuesday: We talked about Death

Yes. But there's a better approach. To know you're going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time... That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you're living. --Morrie

Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. --Morrie

If you accept that you can die at any time -- then you might not be as ambitious as you are --Morrie

Fifth Tuesday: We talked about Family

Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, "Love each other or perish." --Morrie

Without love, we are birds with broken wings. --Morrie

Whenever people ask me about having children or not having children, I never tell them what to do... I simply say, 'There is no experience like having children.' That's all. 'There is no no substitute for it.' --Morrie

Detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you  fully. That's how you are able to leave it. --Morrie

Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with the emotion. It won't hurt you. It will only help. --Morrie

Seventh Tuesday: We talked about the Fear of Aging

We all know how to be a child. It's inside all of us. For me it's just remembering how to enjoy it. --Morrie

Aging is not just decay... It's growth. It's more that the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you life a better life because of it. --Morrie

It is impossible for the old not to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who you are and revel in that. --Morrie

Find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. --Morrie

Eight Tuesday: We talked about Money

You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship. Money is not. --Morrie

If you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you are trying to show off for 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. --Morrie

Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. --Morrie

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

Eleventh Tuesday: We talked about Culture

People are only mean when they are threatened.,, That's what our economy does. --Morrie

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 -- determine those for you. --Morrie

Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you. --Morrie

In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive. And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive. But here's the secret in between, we need others as well. --Morrie

Don't let go too soon, but don't hang on too long. --Morrie