I picked this book up by Anna Quindlen from the library the other day and brought it along with me to Chiang Mai. It's a quick read, though I find myself reading it a couple of times as there were so many quotes that resonated. Below are a few of my favourites:

"If you win the rat race, you're still a rat"

"So I suppose the best piece of advice I could give anyone is pretty simple: get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over the dunes. Get a life in which you pay attention to the baby as she scowls with concentration when she tries to pick ip a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who you love."

"Remember that love is not leisure, it is work"

"The knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us"'

"It is so easy to exist instead of live. Unless you know there is a clock ticking."

"C'mon, let's be honest. We have an embarrassment of riches. Life is good. I think of it in all its small component parts: the snowdrops, the daffodils, the feeling of one of my kids sitting close beside me on the couch. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them (these moments), to love them, and to live, really live."

And this:

"I learned that this is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get"