Welcome to my digital library. Books I’m reading, quotes I love, all in one place. Pick a tab and have a look around!
Below you can see what I’m currently reading, what’s on my reading list, and what I’ve read, all courtesy of my Goodreads profile.
As you scroll, you’ll find books from both ends of the spectrum:
Regardless, I read them all the same. Now, just because I read something doesn’t mean I liked it or agreed with everything said within. Don’t go pre-judging me based off my list here, have a conversation with me first.
There’s a great quote to that effect:
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Sticking to books that confirm existing beliefs won’t grow you much intellectually. Branching out is how we learn, sometimes to change our perspective, other times to confirm that our beliefs are solid. Keep that in mind as you browse, but overall, I like most of what I read, and I hope the same is true for you!
Nerd Note: The Frieren gif above is from the anime Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, which I highly recommend for both seasoned anime watchers and those just getting into things alike. If you’ve seen Violet Evergarden, it shares the same composer, Evan Call, who consistently creates incredibly soothing scores. Nearly every song makes you feel exactly like that gif, wanting to nestle in somewhere, grab a tea, and read a good book. It’s a slice of life anime, so no Dragon Ball Z level fights. It’s about life, friendship, and the meaning of things, presented in a way that makes you introspective, appreciative of life, and aware of how precious time is and how we can’t afford to waste it. Seriously, check it out. And if you need more convincing, watch this YouTube video for even more inspiration.
Currently Reading
To Read
Already Read
Book Thoughts
I’m not on #BookTok, but I do have book thoughts😏, some of which you can read below.
A Timeless Thriller: James Dashner's 'The Maze Runner' Proves Its Endurance as a Modern Classic
Putting aside its cinematic adaptation, "The Maze Runner" novel has aged gracefully into a classic of dystopian science fiction.
This page is an ongoing collection of some of my favorite quotes. I’ll start with one that requires an annotation.
There’s some controversy surrounding the quote below, as it’s often misinterpreted by those who wield it. Most famously, by John Keating (played by Robin Williams) in the film The Dead Poets Society, who used it to emphasize the importance of embracing nonconformity in becoming a free thinker. I’m aware of all such deliberations about the true meaning of this quote, I understand their rationale, their logic, and their unquestionable accuracy, and yet, I don’t care. I prefer it as seen below, out of context, and unambiguous in its meaning. One could say I’m embracing nonconformity 
.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
As much as I love that quote, there’s someone I love a lot more who said something similar. Someone whose word I view as far more authoritative on the topic of life and all things concerning it.
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
All that being said, enjoy the rest of some of my favorite quotes below!
Random Quote
If you want a quick pull from my stash of favorite quotes, use the button below.
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
William James
My Favorite Quotes
Comparison is the thief of joy.
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
We need to read - above all the Word of God, but also history and biographies and great novels. If we don’t read, we condemn ourselves to chronic stupidity and a conditioning by mass media that have no sympathy for the things we believe. […] If we fill our heads with poison and junk, we make ourselves angry and dumb.
For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. And if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again
If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
To the pure all things are pure..
Columbus went out not knowing where he was going; and when he got there he did not know where he was, and when he got back he did not know where he had been, and he did it all on other people’s money.
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Money will never be, and has never been, the mark of God’s approval on someone’s life.
I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Through personal feeling true perspective is easily lost.
It is greater work to resist vices and passions than to sweat in physical toil.
God’s plan is like a beautiful tapestry. And the tragedy of being human is that we only get to see it from the back with all the ragged threads and the muddy colors. We don’t get a hint at the true beauty that would be revealed if we could see the whole pattern… as God does.
For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.
But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place. Its mechanism being observed, the inference, we think, is inevitable, that the watch must have had a maker: that there must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use.
William Paley in “Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity”
I believe that almost anyone who is seriously involved in any church will realize that churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. Having participated throughout my life in organized church and community service groups, I have found that attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meetings. You can be active in a church and inactive in its gospel.
Stephen R. Covey in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
We live in a society that likes to approach things from a utilitarian eye, and there are advantages to that… But our society treats art too utilitarianly. It doesn’t look at the primary purpose of art, which is making the artist’s life more enriched. It’s sincerely what I believe the primary purpose is. It is to make your life better by creating something… They will ask you when you’re going to sell your writing. They’re going to ask you if you’re published. And that’s OK. But I want you to understand that’s not why you have to write. In fact, it’s probably not why you should write. Writing is good for you. Expressing yourself is good for you. Creating art is good for you.
Brandon Sanderson in “The Philosophy of Professional Writing” Lecture at Brigham Young University in 2025
The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities — all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The rôle is easy; there is none easier, save only the rôle of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.
I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.