Emily Giffin quotes: regarding her writing process, life’s little nuances, control, courage and more.
“Life’s not black-and-white. Sometimes the ends justify the means.”
“You can’t take anything for granted. You can count on absolutely nothing but the unexpected. You only get in trouble when you start thinking that you’re some kind of exception to the rule.”
“People make time for what matters to them.”
“Hard work, honesty and integrity always paid off in the end.”
“Often I feel that projects overwhelm us when we look at how many hours are involved until completion. But just getting started is usually not that difficult.”
“I think of how life takes unexpected twists and turns, sometimes through sheer happenstance, sometimes through calculated decisions. In the end, it can all be called fate, but to me, it is more a matter of faith.”
“Begin to realize that nothing is perfect, that there are trade-offs and sacrifices.”
“Perfection isn’t what matters. Nothing is ever perfect. In fact, it’s the very thing that can destroy you if you let it. It is what you make of it.”
“You know in your heart when you’re doing the right thing and when you’re not. And you just have to do everything you can to stay the course.”
“When you’re in the process of reaching your goal, it feels like you will do anything to get there. But you don’t ever want to sell out your story and your voice.”
“Everyone wants to belong, or be a part of something bigger than themselves, but it’s important to follow your heart and be true to yourself in the process. It’s important to realize the decisions you make can impact the rest of your life.”
“Everyone has issues. And at the end of the day, you are who you are.”
“Change can be good.”
“The most well-adjusted people live in the present with an eye toward the future.”
“Maybe the thing to do after you roll the dice, and lose, is simply pick them up and roll them again.”
“Whenever you make a big decision in life, at least any decision where you have a viable alternative, there is an inevitable uneasy aftermath. Anxiety is merely a sign that you’re taking something seriously.”
“I’ve often let my goals supersede the journey and the love of what I’m doing. A constant battle to stay in control, get to the next level, ensure that my life stays perfectly, carefully scripted.”
“That’s how life is. Sometimes there are happy endings, sometimes there aren’t, and more often there are shades of gray.”
“He who fails to plan, plans to fail. Anything worthwhile is tough.”
“One way isn’t better than the other; they’re just different.”
“You can only control your own actions. Not other people’s reactions.”
“You’ll never regret being a good friend.”
“It always takes two. For relationships to work, for them to break apart, for them to be fixed.”
“Love and friendship. They are what make us who we are, and what can change us, if we let them.”
“I have learned that you make your own happiness, that part of going for what you want means losing something else. And when the stakes are high, the losses can be that much greater.”
“I think it’s important to try to be present with whatever it is you’re doing. And if you can’t be present, take a break.”
“It’s a funny thing—when I’m crazed with work, spending time with my children relaxes me. Yet, at the end of a long weekend with them, the very thing I need to relax is a little work and time away from them!”
“The key is that you have to accept the fact that if you’re doing it all, you still have to make sacrifices on both sides. You can’t do everything you want to do. What are my priorities? I really think it’s quality not quantity. I try to be very engaged and the best mother I can be when I’m with them.”
“The key is finding a balance, making priorities and accepting the fact that you can’t be everywhere. You just have to do the best you can.”
“I’ve always been interested in writing. It’s sort of one of my earliest passions.”
“I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I enjoyed writing poems and stories from the time I could write, around five years old. But I fell into the trap of thinking I needed to find something practical to do, and that led to me being a lawyer for five years.”
“My creative process for writing generally starts with a concept I want to explore. Be true to yourself and your story.”
“Our lives are messy and complicated and I try to capture that when I write, because that’s what’s interesting to me about life.”
“Maybe that’s what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all.”
“My work has often been described as ‘chick lit’ and for the most part the term doesn’t bother me. I think it simply signals to readers that the book is about women, written for women… about issues that concern women.”
“I try to write about real women, real people. In other words, flawed characters. I find flawed characters much more interesting than perfect ones and enjoy the challenge of making readers root for them in spite of their unsympathetic path and destructive choices. Life is about the gray areas. Things are seldom black and white, even when we wish they were and think they should be, and I like exploring this nuanced terrain.”
“For women in general, we have this great capacity to both love and hate our friends. It’s a really strange phenomenon. It’s like this sense of underlying competition, not with your truest friends, but with some. And I think you learn as you get older to jettison those friends, and only keep the ones that only build you up and feel really healthy.”
“True friends will always be there. The actual journey towards writing a novel I don’t think is particularly enviable, except for the fact that you’re following your dreams. I think people envy risk-takers because it’s what people want to do, but can they do it? I think when you don’t have that nine to five office job, there’s often a sense that you’re not really working, which is obviously, as you know, not the case.”
“I’ve always considered myself lucky that I could mostly earn a living by doing what I love.”
“Look on the bright side. Be grateful for what you have. Count your blessings. Optimism is the foundation of courage.”
“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
“Happiness is the best revenge, you know? Just be happy. It’s a choice.”
Related: J. K. Rowling quotes.
