This quote comes from Zadie Smith’s debut novel, the award-winning “White Teeth,” about two unlikely friends, both veterans of World War II. Smith has since gone on to write four more novels and three essay collections, the most recent of which, “Intimations,” was written during the early months of the Covid-19 lockdown and released in July 2020. Smith's fluid prose has led critics to compare her work to that of such disparate writers as Charles Dickens and Salman Rushdie, but she has made a name for herself in being incomparable. Currently working as a tenured professor at New York University, she continues to inspire readers with her insightful writing, putting words on the page even when the chips are down.  

When Chief Joseph began his 1879 address in Washington, D.C., with these words, he was setting the stage for an entreaty to the U.S. government to allow his people, the Nez Percé American Indian tribe, to return to their land in the Pacific Northwest. His quote here was an effort to show that two differing groups — white people and Indigenous Americans — could understand each other and see one another’s points of view. They are words worth living by on a personal level as well: To forge relationships based on love and understanding, we need to speak from the heart and with honesty.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marilynne Robinson is known for the beauty, philosophical depth, and deeply considered optimism of her work. Ever humble and expansive, Robinson credits her own teachers for the wisdom her readers and students so value. “We were positively encouraged to create for ourselves minds we would want to live with,” she has said about the educators she loved in her youth. “I had teachers articulate that to me: ‘You have to live with your mind your whole life.’ …Nobody has ever said anything more valuable to me.”

Born in 1894 in Massachusetts, E.E. Cummings always knew he wanted to be a poet. When the First World War started, he was deployed in France and, despite the circumstances, fell in love with Paris. His poetic letters expressed this feeling and his preference for the company of French soldiers, which not only raised suspicions with the Americans, but led to his imprisonment as he was believed to be a spy. While some could easily be discouraged by this experience, Cummings used it to write his novel "The Enormous Room" in 1922 while living in Paris, where he returned after the war. This brief glance into the poet’s life suggests that the quote above was somewhat of a mantra for Cummings. When you feel discouraged, it can be comforting to remember that the easiest way is not always the right way, and staying true to who you are always pays off in the end.