Movie Quote of the Week: Tuesdays with Morrie

My movie of the week for this week is Tuesdays with Morrie. I love, love this movie.

The book (and movie), written by Mitch Albom, tells the true story of professor Morrie Schwartz, who is dying of ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Throughout the story, Mitch reflects on the lessons he has learned from his dying professor.

I have read this book no less than 15 times, and if you haven't - you really need to. It can be sad, but I think it's hopeful more than anything. Seriously - if you haven't read this book - do.

And now, the quotes. Since there are so many of them, I'm going to break them up into 2 posts. So here's the first half:

"Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."

"And love is how you stay alive, even after you’re gone."

"In business, people negotiate to win. They negotiate to get what they want. Maybe you’re too used to that. Love is different. Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own."

"As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed as ignorant as you were at twenty-two, you'd always be twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."

"Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do 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 our lives somewhere in the middle. Sounds like a wrestling match – but you could consider life that way. Which side wins, you wonder? He smiled at me with crinkled eyes and said, 'Love wins. Love always wins.'"

"Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."

"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 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 as wise man named Levine said it was right. He said, “Love is the only rational act.” Love is the only rational act."

"As long as we can love each other, and remember that feeling of love we had, we can die without really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on – in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here. Death ends a life, not a relationship."

I know it's long... but Part 2 is next week! Stay tuned...

love,