I may not be the best at speaking my mind or getting my thoughts across out loud, but there's something about the written word that makes me feel -- real. Like I actually exist, like my thoughts are legitimate, and that emotions are more than just chemicals in my brain.

This is probably due to the fact that when I was younger, I never stopped reading. You may think this is a typical "Oh, yeah, I used to read a lot" statement, but just to paint a clearer image: In the summer before third grade, I was required to keep track of how much time I spent reading. The exact number of minutes was 16,467. That's about 11 full days of reading.

I may have been a bit odd as a child.

However, in my many readings, I've found a lot of courage and motivation from quotes that caught me off guard. Sometimes it seemed like I didn't know I needed to hear something until there it was, staring at me from between the pages.

Here is a small compilation of quotes that are important to me.

"Not enjoyment, and not sorrow / is our destined end or way / But to act, that each tomorrow finds us farther than today. / Art is long, and Time is fleeting, / and our hearts though stout and brave, / still like muffled drums, are beating / Funeral marches to the grave." - "A Psalm of Life," Henry Longfellow

These are two stanzas from Henry Longellow's poem "A Psalm of Life." It serves as a reminder to me that the point of life is simply to live. There is no definitive purpose, not enjoyment; not sorrow; not death. The end will come, and in the end all I want is to be better than I am today.

“I trust you to find the good in me, but the bad I must be sure you don't overlook.” -- "Ella Enchanted," Gail Carson Levine

"Ella Enchanted" was the first book I became obsessed with. I remember reading it six times in the two weeks I had it out from the library. I knew where my favorite parts were, which paragraphs were the most intriguing, what the characters looked like, sounded like. And for some reason, the romance inside of it made me desire a companion for the first time in my life. Maybe it was my age, but I think that the portrayal of relationships was what I loved. This quote sums it up pretty well; you accept each and every part of a person. You love them for the good, and you love them through the bad.

“Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.” -- "The Last Unicorn," Peter S. Beagle

Many have heard of the old film "The Last Unicorn," but what they usually don't realize is that it was originally a novel. I have never known another story that is almost word for word transferred from the page to screen. While it may be brushed off as a children's story, I still highly recommend it. And the reason why is, of course, because of all the quotes that hit home. I strongly believe that you can be an adult and still learn lessons from fairy tales.

"I did not know that I was so empty, to be so full." -- "The Last Unicorn," Peter S. Beagle

Yes. I know. Same book and author. But sometimes this is the only way I can explain the utter bliss, the happiness that I feel. Because sometimes words just aren't enough.

"This shaking keeps me steady. I should know./What falls away is always, and is near./I wake to sleep and take my waking slow./I learn by going where I have to go." -- "The Waking," Theodore Roethke

Theodore Roethke is a heck of an amazing poet. I highly recommend any of his works, but "The Waking" is definitely -- hands down -- my favorite. I love the line "This shaking keeps me steady." To me, it's a way of saying that pain reminds me I can feel. I know, kind of depressing, but I've found it's necessary to find any positives that you can. Especially when it comes to pain.

“That love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don’t know it. Those who speak of love most promiscuously are the ones who’ve never felt it. They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt, and general indifference, and they call it love. Once you’ve felt what it means to love as you and I know it – the total passion for the total height – you’re incapable of anything less.” -- "The Fountainhead," Ayn Rand

This quote is from my favorite book of all time. Yes, I realize that Ayn Rand is a bit controversial in general, but goodness gracious there are some things that she says I don't even mentally comprehend. My heart just goes "Yes. Yes, exactly what I was trying to say." This is one example of such a quote. And it is something that I didn't understand until I read it.

I have been single for about eight months. And I've found that it is seemingly impossible for me to even want to find someone new. I have no motivation, no desire to get back into the relationship world, and I didn't know why. But it turns out that I finally felt for someone exactly what this quote describes. It made me realize that I am capable of feeling more than the stew Rand describes, and that there was nothing wrong with me -- I am just refusing to settle for anything less.

“We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.” -- "The Happiness Hypothesis," Jonathan Haidt

You can spend your life being told something and never accept it for truth. Wisdom is created when you discover something and it drops from your head into your heart. And that's really all I can say about this quote. But I very strongly recommend this book. It is intriguing and gives a lot to think about.

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists; it is real; it is possible; it's yours.” -- "Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand

I end this article with one of the most inspiring quotes that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. How many times have we all felt not quite good enough, that something was wrong with us. That what we love and what we want is wrong.

A world where you can be yourself completely -- it can be won. It is possible.

It is yours.