More from and about
Mitch Albom
(biographical info at bottom of page)

  

An important note:  most of the quotations that are attributed to Mitch Albom
from his book Tuesdays with Morrie are actually from Morrie Schwartz; they're
attributed to Albom because they're in his book.  On this page we've tried to
put only material that comes from Albom himself; remember that most of
what you read as Albom's work in TwM aren't actually his own words.

   

     Ruby stepped toward him. "Edward," she said softly. It was the first time she had called him by name. "Learn this from me.  Holding anger is a poison.  It eats you from inside.  We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us.  But hatred is a curved blade.  And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.
     "Forgive, Edward.  Forgive.  Do you remember the lightness you felt when you first arrived in heaven?"
     Eddie did.  Where is my pain?
     "That's because no one is born with anger. And when we die, the soul is freed of it. But now, here, in order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did, and why you no longer need to feel it."
     She touched his hand.
     "You need to forgive your father."

      
All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped.  Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.
  
   
I used to think I knew everything. I was a "smart person" who "got things done," and because of that, the higher I climbed, the more I could look down and scoff at what seemed silly or simple, even religion.
But I realized something as I drove home that night: that I am neither better nor smarter, only luckier. And I should be ashamed of thinking I knew everything, because you can know the whole world and still feel lost in it. So many people are in pain--no matter how smart or accomplished--they cry, they yearn, they hurt.  But instead of looking down on things, they look up, which is where I should have been looking, too. Because when the world quiets to the sound of your own breathing, we all want the same things:  comfort, love, and a peaceful heart.
  
“No life is a waste," the Blue Man said. "The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we're alone.”
     

All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.

   

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When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone.
They can come back to you, even at unlikely times.

   

Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not
really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.

   

The culture we have does not make people feel good about
themselves.  We're teaching the wrong things.  And you have
to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work,
don't buy it.  Create your own.  Most people can't do it.

   

  

There are no random acts.  We are all connected.  You can no more
separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.

    
Mitch Albom is the author of eight books, including the bestseller The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and the phenomenal bestseller Tuesdays With Morrie.  Oprah Winfrey produced a major television movie for ABC based on Tuesdays With Morrie that aired in December, 1999, and starred Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria.  A phenomenon in its own right, the movie was not only the most-watched on any network for that year, it also earned four Emmy Awards in 2000, including those for "Best Actor" (Lemmon) and Best Supporting Actor (Azaria).  With more than five million copies now in print, "Tuesdays With Morrie" is also published in 34 countries, in 30 languages, and was a bestseller in Japan, Australia, Brazil, and England.

Albom's "Tuesdays With Morrie" story has been featured in many national publications, including People Magazine, Life Magazine, TV Guide, and Redbook.  Albom has also been featured on several national television
programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC's Today Show, the CBS Early Show, Larry King Live, the Tom Snyder Show, and the Rosie O'Donnell Show.
  

    

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Other people:  Alan Watts - Albert Einstein - Albert Schweitzer - Andy Rooney - Anne Frank - Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Anne Wilson Schaef
- Annie Dillard - Anthony Robbins - Ari Kiev - Artur Rubenstein - Barbara Johnson - Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Franklin
- Benjamin Hoff - Bernie Siegel - Bertrand Russell - Betty Eadie - Booker T. Washington
Charlotte Davis Kasl
- Cheryl Richardson - Cristina Feldman - C.S. Lewis - the Dalai Lama - Dale Carnegie - Deepak Chopra
Don Miguel Ruiz
- Earl Nightingale - Elaine St. James - Eleanor Roosevelt - Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emmet Fox
- Frederick Buechner - George Bernard Shaw - George Santayana - George Washington Carver - Gerald Jampolsky
Harold Kushner
- Harry Emerson Fosdick - Helen Keller - Henry David Thoreau - Henry James - Henry Van Dyke
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Henry Ward Beecher - Hugh Prather - Immanuel Kant - Iyanla Vanzant - Jack Canfield
James Allen
- Jennifer James - Jim Rohn - Joan Borysenko - Joan Chittister - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - John Izzo
John Ruskin
- Joni Eareckson Tada - Joseph M. Marshall III - Julia Cameron - Kent Nerburn - Khalil Gibran
Leo Buscaglia
- Leonard Jacobson - Leslie Levine - Lucinda Bassett - Lydia Maria Child - Lynn Grabhorn - Marcus Aurelius
Marianne Williamson
- Martin Luther King, Jr. - Maya Angelou - Melody Beattie - Michael Goddart - Mitch Albom
Mohandas Gandhi
- Morrie Schwartz - Mother Teresa - M. Scott Peck - Nathaniel Branden - Nikos Kazantzakis - Norman Cousins
Norman Vincent Peale
- Og Mandino - Oprah Winfrey - Oriah - Orison Swett Marden - Pau Casals - Peace Pilgrim - Phillips Brooks
Rabindranath Tagore
- Rachel Carson - Rachel Naomi Remen - Rainer Maria Rilke - Ralph Waldo Trine - Richard Bach
Richard Carlson
- Robert Frost - Robert Fulghum - Robert Louis Stevenson - Russell Baker - Sarah Ban Breathnach
Shakti Gawain
- Soren Kierkegaard - Stephen Covey - Stephen C. Paul - Sue Patton Thoele - Susan L. Taylor
Sylvia Boorstein
- Thich Nhat Hanh - Thomas Carlyle - Thomas Kinkade - Thomas Merton - Tom Walsh - Victor Cherbuliez
Wayne Dyer
- Wilferd A. Peterson - Willa Cather - William James - William Wordsworth - Zig Ziglar

   

       
    

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.