Home
RSS Feed
E-Mail
Categories: Etc
Tags: books, morrie schwartz, quotes, tuesdays with morrie
My favourite quotes from Tuesdays With Morrie
The Syllabus
- pg 10
- “Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?”
The Audiovisual
- pg 18
- “Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do”; “Accept the past as past without denying it or discarding it”; “Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others”; “Don’t assume that it’s too late to get involved.”
- pg 21
- “There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I’m so angry and bitter. But it doesn’t last too long. Then I get up and say, ‘I want to live . . .’”
The Classroom
- pg 33
- “I’m on the last great journey here–and people want me to tell them what to pack.”
- pg 34
- “Have you found someone to share your heart with?” “Are you giving to your community?” “Are you at peace with yourself?” “Are you trying to be as human as you can be?”
- pg 35
- “Dying, is only one thing to be sad over. Living unhappily is something else. So many of the people who come to visit me are unhappy.”
- pg 36
- “I may be dying, but I am surrounded by loving, caring souls. How many people can say that?”
- pg 40
- “Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn’t. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.”“A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle.” “A wrestling match. Yes you could describe life that way.” “Which side wins?” “Love wins. Love always wins.”
Taking Attendance
- pg 42
- “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.”
- pg 43
- “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. 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.”
The First Tuesday We Talk About The World
- pg 51
- “One day, I’m gonna show you it’s okay to cry.”
- pg 52
- “You asked about caring for people I don’t even know. But can I tell you the thing I’m learning more with this disease?” “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” “Let it come in. We think we don’t deserve love, we think if we let it in we’ll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said, ‘Love is the only rational act.’” “‘Love is the only rational act.’”
The Second Tuesday We Talk About Feeling Sorry For Yourself
- pg 61
- “Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people to trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too–even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.”
The Fourth Tuesday We Talk About Death
- pg 81
- “Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.”
- pg 82
- “The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
- pg 83
- “Because, most of us all walk around as if we’re sleepwalking. We really don’t experience the world fully, because we’re half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.”“Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time–then you might not be as ambitious as you are.”
- pg 84
- “Even I don’t know what ’spiritual development’ really means. But I do know we’re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationship we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.”
The Fifth Tuesday We Talk About Family
- pg 91
- “If you don’t have support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. As our great poet Auden said, ‘Love each other or perish.’”
- pg 92
- “This is part of what family is about, not just love, but letting others know there’s someone who is watching out for them. Knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame. Not work.”
- pg 93
- “There is no experience like having children. That’s all. There is no substitute for it. If you want to have the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.”
The Sixth Tuesday We Talk About Emotions
- pg 104
- “If you hold back on the emotions–if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them—you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid. You’re afraid of the pain, you’re afraid of the grief. You’re afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.”
- pg 105
- “I thought about how often this was needed in every day life. How we feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but we don’t let those tears come because we are not supposed to cry. Or how feel a surge of love for a partner but we don’t say anything because we’re frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.”
The Seventh Tuesday We Talk About The Fear Of Aging
- pg 118
- “Aging is not just decay, you know. It’s growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, it’s also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.”“You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning. Because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.”
- pg 120
- “You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue.”
The Eighth Tuesday We Talk About Money
- pg 125
- “These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can’t substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.”“When you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”
- pg 127-128
- “If you’re trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you’re 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.”
- pg 128
- “Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won’t be dissatisfied, you won’t be envious, you won’t be longing for somebody else’s things. On the contrary, you’ll be overwhelmed with what comes back.”
The Ninth Tuesday We Talk About How Love Goes On
- pg 133
- “I’ve got so many people who have been involved with me in close, intimate ways. And love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.”
- pg 136
- “Part of the problem, is that everyone in such a hurry, People haven’t found meaning in their lives, so they’re running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. They find those things are empty, too, and they keep running.”
The Tenth Tuesday We Talk About Marriage
- pg 149
- “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 about 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.” “And the biggest one of those values.” “Your belief in the importance of your marriage.”
The Eleventh Tuesday We Talk About Our Culture
- pg 156
- “Every society has its own problems, The way to do it, I think, isn’t to run away. You have to work at creating your own culture.”
The Audiovisual, Part Three
- pg 163
- “Be compassionate, And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.”
The Twelfth Tuesday We Talk About Forgiveness
- pg 164
- “There is no point in keeping vengeance or stubbornness. These things I so regret in my life. Pride. Vanity. Why do we do the things we do?”
- pg 167
- “Make peace. You need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you.”
The Thirteenth Tuesday We Talk About The Perfect Day
- pg 173
- “That’s what we’re all looking for. A certain peace with the idea of dying. If we know, in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing.” “Which is?” “Make peace with living.”
- pg 174
- “As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away.”“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
- pg 177-178
- “There is no formula to relationships. They have to be negotiated in loving ways, with room for both parties, what they want and what they need, what they can do and what their life is like.”
- pg 178
- “Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.”
I read Tuesdays With Morrie back in 2001, this book is a humble reminder every time I jump on the wrong direction in life.
This book is my bible.
31 Responses
Del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Magnolia
Newsvine
Reddit
reading this book right now with just 50 pages to go. great book indeed. as a dad, my favourite quote is : pg 93 …
“There is no experience like having children. That’s all. There is no substitute for it. If you want to have the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.”
feel free to check out my blog…it’s been ages since ive updated it but it’s time i do and it will be somethhing to do with this magical book.
This book meant so much to me. At the end, when Mitch talks about why Morrie died when no one was there hit me so hard. I couldn’t believe that the world around me could continue revolving when such a delicate and kind man was dying…
I have never read the book, but have seen the movie. There is a theater show as well that I went to see, and the theater was sold out, filled to the brim. It was performed by only two men. They were great actors and were on stage for over two hours with no intermission. When the death bed scene came, everyone could relate to what Morrie had been saying, and thus, the entire audience was in tears by the end. Even the most stoic people, myself included, had to rub off a tear or two on their shirt sleeve. The story truly moved me, but I realized as my family and I were leaving, “How is this going to change me and everyone else?” Morrie’s message was about living, but will anyone actually change how they proceed with life as a result of reading it?
VIEW MORRIE LESSONS ON LIVING MOVIE ON LINE AT (47 mins):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3863455317235235085&hl=en
The DVD is well worth owning…so go out and purchase one, or several to give away to friends. This is a story that needs to be shared with everyone. Ted Koppel said it was one of the best stories he ever did in his entire lifetime of reporting.
I really enjoyed the book Tuesdays with Morrie. It was just breath taking. I really liked his quotes as well. Actually we should all live by a lot of the quotes he said. So many of them are so true if you look at them. Like when he speaks of people walking around half asleep and paying so much attention to other peoples drama…so true.
Tuesdays with morrie was the book that made me cry for the first time after reading a book.I was astonished in the way a man could live when one is suffering from such a killing disease [ALS].I must say it was a heart felt book with love and tender in it…
It was like reading a book and forget the book for me…but since i was doing a book project i had a chance to really discuss the book and understand it…
I first found this book while I was in search of a biography to read for summer reading. Honestly I wanted to find a short easy book to read. What I found was a motivational book that taught me more than any class could have. The way that Morrie perceveres throughout the last days of his life is captivating. You simply cannot read this book without getting attached to Morrie in some shape way or form.
i really enjoyed the book tuesday morrie,i learned a lot from hIS QUOTES…
“Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.”
Leo Buscaglia
“Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
Buddha
“Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.”
John Muir
“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
George Burns
i think these apply to morrie
I have already watched the play of this book since we we’re required to watched it for our english 2 subject. but you know what it was the one of the best moment in my life that I will recall over and over again – listening the lines of morrie schwartz as the actors on the play are making those line more amazing..
This book talked to my soul. I’ve read it twice and both times I cried like a baby when Morrie finally died.
i love this book i can just relate to it. Im reading it again. We just finished reading it in class.But i have the book and im reading that now!
I love it! I want to read it again. I love the part when Morrie says that no one on their death bed will ask to have all diplomas, award or certificates they ever received. Instead, one would be very happy to have the people you love around you. Other things will no longer be important. Also, I like how Morrie loved to dance.
God rest his soul…
I really love this book. Its the first one that made me cry. I read this book a long time ago and just watched the movie recently. Its so amazing how his words had a huge effect in the way I live my life now. I posted up his quotes on my blog too because I felt the need to share his wisdom.
This book changed my life. End of story.
no words can box everything i have experienced reading this book….very powerful, this book made me optimistic in everything i do…thank you for sharing….
im not normaly a touchy feely guy but this book got me close to saying that i like everyone in my class even if they think im an annoyance o btw just a question here but what page is the quote “we must either love each other or die” on? i cant seen to find it
On my copy (ISBN 0733609554, published by Hodder Headline Australia), it’s on the lower part of page 91 – part of The Fifth Tuesday We Talk About Family chapter.
I read this back in 2002 when I took soc 101 in high school. It was a requirement, we also watched the movie.. Then senior year we had to read it again for our final in english class. I have read it probably six times since and I own the movie, it’s the most touching book I’ve ever read. I cry every single time even though I know it almost word for word.
I watched the movie yesterday 28 July, and as it started, I thought I was only going to be 30 min as I needed to sleep early for our end of the month communication parade. I ended up watching the whole movie and all I could say, with tears in my eyes, “what a profound lesson about the things we take forgranted in life”. What a great teacher. Though I was not lucky to have seen him, he has touched me and it feels as though his spirit lives on. He has rekindled my inner fire without asking for anything, and for that I thank him. I like the story of the small wave, who is scared of crushing on the beach, only to be told that he is not a wave but part of the ocean. This is so devine it defies explaining in words. Thank you so much Morrie, and I hope you are listening under that tree.
great quotes!
may i post it forward?
Sure thing.
Stumbled upon your website via bing the other day and absolutely think its great. Carry on the great work.
My heart just melted at your words….thank you so much for sharing and being a wonderful person. God Bless!!
Diane~
uhm, where’s the fourteenth tuesday?
I have read this book so many times. This book is just amazing and just so inspiring. Even though I never knew Morrie I love him and he has made me think about stuff differently. Much respect.
Ok for one I don’t read, hate it, can’t do it to well..
always been bad at it, but as soon as I read on to the 1st page of this book I couldn’t put it down. This book has a way of getting to you, more then that it is really a Gift to the world.
omq! i just love this move its the best it did made me cry.. but i still love this move.
I received this book from my Grandmother 6 months before she died. She INSISTED I read it…and I kept saying “one day.” Finally, I decided to read it. I knew what she was then trying to do–prepare me for her death. Losing her was like losing my best friend, my mother, my child, but I can honestly say that as I read this book every year to my senior high school students, I grow, I accept, I learn more. Isn’t it strange that most young find the elderly outdated, of little use? When in reality, they are the treasure trove of wisdom, love, compassion, and insight.
i just watched the movie for the third time in my religion class, each time it brings our class to a silence because of the emotional effect it has on everyone, this is in my opinion onw of the best movies and stories i will ever hear