I think I'm only now realizing how hard it must be to be a woman. Too thin or not thin enough. Do your job flawlessly, but don't show up any of the men. Speak up, but don't be bitchy. Smile.

Money can't buy you happiness, but happiness sure is a hell of a lot easier to find when you're not worried about where your next meal is coming from.

—Christina Lauren

When my old life died, it didn't go quietly. It detonated.

—Christina Lauren

Falling in love isn't about who makes you feel the best, but who could make you the most miserable if they leave.

—Christina Lauren in Wicked Sexy Liar

Isn't it amazing how you meet the person you're meant to meet, when you're supposed to meet her?

—Christina Lauren in Beautiful Bitch

Find a woman who will be your equal in every way. Don't let yourself fall for someone who'll put your world before theirs. Fall for the powerhouse who lives as fearlessly as you do.

—Christina Lauren in Beautiful Bitch

The older you get the stronger the wind gets - and it's always in your face.

—Pablo Picasso

So much that was beautiful and so much that was hard to bear. Yet whenever I showed myself ready to bear it, the hard was directly transformed into the beautiful.

—Etty Hillesum

All art is a struggle to be, in a particular sort of way, virtuous.

—Iris Murdoch

There is no need to struggle to be free; the absence of struggle is in itself freedom.

—Chögyam Trungpa

Don't you know that every perfect life would mean the end of art?

—Robert Musil