Elizabeth Gilbert Quotes

I have learned how to observe, far better than most people observe. I am not blinded by the past or motivated by the future. I focus on the present, because that is where I am destined to live.

All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice.

Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it

There is always something to see, if you only know how to look.

Before, it came easy for me. I don't have two speeds anymore. I need to focus on the small things that I once took for granted.

Seeing the small is called clarity.

Writing is seeing. It is paying attention.

... every time you look at the world and the people in it closely, lovingly, imaginatively, it changes you. The world, under the microscope of your attention, opens up like a beautiful, strange flower and gives itself back to you in ways you could never imagine.

“How ever did you see that?” “Because I looked for it.”

I really enjoy forgetting. When I first come to a place, I notice all the little details. I notice the way the sky looks. The color of white paper. The way people walk. Doorknobs. Everything. Then I get used to the place and I don't notice those things anymore. So only by forgetting can I see the place again as it really is.

Art is about paying attention.

So many things become beautiful when you really look.

I have always loved the gaps, the spaces between things, as much as the things. I love staring, pondering, mulling, puttering. I love the times when someone or something is late-there's that rich possibility of noticing more, in the meantimePoetry calls us to pause. There is so much we overlook, while the abundance around us continues to shimmer, on its own.

I go too fast to see much, only the tops of everything. I've got to prowl slow some time through this country.

You see, but you do not observe.

A need to concentrate on each sound, so that every blade of grass would be as important as a flower.

Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough.

If you just breathe, and go slower, you will have enough energy. It's really important because there are people who wait in line, and your work has changed their lives. You will need to listen to them because they are also going to feed you and give you confirmation of the prayer you asked before you spoke.

Go fast enough to get there, but slow enough to see.

I don't understand people who say they're bored. Look out your window.

Nothing is boring if you look at carefully.

Stop and take your time to notice things and make those things you notice matter.

You have to be able to observe life as if you were a camera all the time, constantly looking at light and the way that things are placed and the way people hold themselves. You need the ability to see something in someone or something that no one else really sees and be able to bring that to light. Basically, you have to be an obsessive crazy person.