Ella Ceron

Was life uncontestedly better after Nick Cannon’s manifesto as a gigolo? Yes, it was.

You burned from both ends, but still, you burned.

Other people expect 20-somethings to be messy. They expect us to be sloppy and awkward and gangly because in their hearts, they know they were, too.

Brains never hurt anyone, baby. Let spell check be your wingman.

You find them genuinely interesting. Really interesting. Like, they could recite Socrates in the original ancient Greek to you and you’d listen to every word.

I can’t believe you’re out of the game. It’s like Picasso not painting, or Bruce Willis not combining action and rock harmonica.

Being able to laugh is one of the greatest things we can do as humans, and we should do it more often (but less at the expense of other people).

You will have to learn to forgive yourself, even when you slip up—especially when you do—because the extra shame incurred in starting from scratch will only tie you down.

Luck is making the plan up as you go along, in hoping that the forks you take and the decisions you make are the right ones, but you still have to make those choices on your own. You still have to work really hard.

I mean, Sirius spent 12 years in a prison for a crime he didn’t commit. I think he’s allowed to be a little emotionally distant in bed.

The habits of trying to make yourself look as presentable as possible are still as deeply ingrained in you as they were when you were awkward and gangly and had acne, except now you’re nursing a phantom limb.

You live with the constant fear that today might be the day when you’re supposed to be in the office but you’ve forgotten.