Gretchen Rubin quotes

Turn off your email; turn off your phone; disconnect from the Internet; figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to, and disengage when you need to. Technology is a good servant but a bad master. (Gretchen Rubin)
The days are long, but the years are short. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find - and I hear from other people that they agree - that getting rid of clutter gives a disproportionate boost to happiness. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Being taken for granted is an unpleasant but sincere form of praise. Ironically, the more reliable you are, and the less you complain, the more likely you are to be taken for granted. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but every day is a clean slate and a fresh opportunity. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they're big, flashing signs that something needs to change. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
When I thought about why I was sometimes reluctant to push myself, I realized that it was because I was afraid of failure - but in order to have more success, I needed to be willing to accept more failure. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
The things that go wrong often make the best memories. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Look for happiness under your own roof. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times from the past. Photos are a great memory-prompt, and because we tend to take photos of happy occasions, they weight our memories to the good. (Gretchen Rubin)
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Lower the bar. Actually spending ten minutes clearing off one shelf is better than fantasizing about spending a weekend cleaning out the basement. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Enthusiasm is a form of social courage. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
We need to have intimate, enduring bonds; we need to be able to confide; we need to feel that we belong; we need to be able to get support, and just as important for happiness, to give support. We need many kinds of relationships; for one thing, we need friends. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
I enjoy the fun of failure. It's fun to fail, I kept repeating. It's part of being ambitious; it's part of being creative. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
The biggest waste of time is to do well something that we need not do at all. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
A 'treat' is different from a 'reward', which must be justified or earned. A treat is a small pleasure or indulgence that we give to ourselves just because we want it. Treats give us greater vitality, which boosts self-control, which helps us maintain our healthy habits. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Enthusiasm is more important than innate ability, it turns out, because the single more important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
When we don't get any treats, we feel depleted, resentful, and angry, and we feel justified in self-indulgence. We start to crave comfort - and grab that comfort wherever we can, even if it means breaking good habits. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Keep in mind that to avoid loneliness, many people need both a social circle and an intimate attachment. Having just one of two may still leave you feeling lonely. (Gretchen Rubin)
Getting paperwork under control makes me feel more in control of my life generally. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
One of the great joys of falling in love is the feeling that the most extraordinary person in the entire world has chosen you. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
Remember that although the distinction can be difficult to draw, loneliness and solitude are different. View quote
Gretchen Rubin
We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it. View quote
Gretchen Rubin