{"author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber","total_quotes":32,"quotes":[{"text":"Without their uniforms, they were probably nobodies, rejects. Give a man a uniform. Give him a few sparkly badges, a purpose, a gun ... And suddenly, he was no longer just another kid trying to make it through life without being ridiculed. Suddenly, he was a part of something. Something important. Something powerful. Something greater than he could ever be on his own. It was amazing how empowering the group could be.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["conformity","conformity-and-attitude","empowerment","group-dynamics","group-mentality","group-think","groupthink","in-group-politics","life","life-lessons","soldiers","war"],"id":8256,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"Butterflies are nature’s tragic heroes. They live most of their lives being completely ordinary. And then, one day, the unexpected happens. They burst from their cocoons in a blaze of colors and become utterly extraordinary. It is the shortest phase of their lives, but it holds the greatest importance. It shows us how empowering change can be.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["butterflies","change","development","empowerment","life","moving-forward","philosophy","self-improvement","tragic-hero"],"id":22692,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"On a cloudy day, when the dim dance of the firelight and the warmth of the sconces are not enough, the books shed their own form of light. By the hundreds, they fill the shelves that stretch across every inch of exposed wall. They rise up to the ceiling, warriors of an impenetrable army, encircling my over-sized armchair and keeping me safe as they whisper their stories softly in my ear.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["booklover","books","bookshelves","joy-of-reading","love-of-books","read","reading","reading-books","stories"],"id":31343,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"This world owes us nothing. Existence is not indebted to us. Humanity lives under this misconception that we deserve life’s blessings, that we deserve happiness. But in truth, life owes us nothing.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["debts","deserving","existence","happiness","human","humanity","indebtedness","life","life-s-blessings","mankind","philosophy-of-life","seeking-truth","truth","universe","world"],"id":62481,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"That is life, isn’t it? Fate. Luck. Chance. A long series of what-if’s that lead from one moment to the next, time never pausing for you to catch your breath, to make sense of the cards that have been handed to you. And all you can do is play your cards and hope for the best, because in the end, it all comes back to those three basics.Fate. Luck. Chance.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["chance","fate","life-lessons","luck"],"id":64694,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"Things are never as they seem. A person. A Mark. A statement. They are always deeper than we perceive, like walking in the ocean and suddenly dipping under the surface because the bottom has disappeared beneath your feet. The water appears shallow until you are suddenly flailing around beneath the surface, desperately searching for stable ground once again.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["deep","desperation","ocean","stability"],"id":80090,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"When we stand up for what we believe in—for what’s right—there is always a chance that we risk the very things we fight for: our safety, our lives, our freedom. But if we stand down, the risk is definite.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["civil-rights","fight","fight-for-freedom","justice","life-lessons","life-philosophy","risk","sacrifice","soldier","stand-up-for-what-is-right","war","warrior"],"id":110248,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"At the bottom of freshly dug holes, I bury my problems alongside the waxen seeds.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["garden","gardening","gardening-as-therapy","hobbies","letting-go","problems","relief","therapeutic"],"id":122533,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"I have never known anyone to win a battle waged against his emotions. When a sentiment hoists his glimmering blade into the air, the battle is lost before it has begun.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["battles-within","emotional","emotions","philosophy","sentiments"],"id":125720,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"},{"text":"This was where war happened, in someone’s backyard. Sometimes it was yours. Often, it was someone’s a world away. But it did happen. In this moment. In the next breath. Every day.Every day, someone lived in the midst of destruction and chaos. Every day, someone’s flower boxes filled with gunpowder’s haze, a child’s laughter turned to tears. There had been a day when someone watered those flowers in the evening’s peaceful quiet and the children caught fireflies in mason jars. And that day will come again, when the crickets and the bullets no longer have to compete for the night’s stage. But for now, all anyone could do was fight on the crickets’ behalf.","author":"Kelseyleigh Reber","tags":["battles","chaos","close-to-home","every-day","fight-for-freedom","fight-for-life","fighting","home-invasion","life","philosophy-of-life","war","wars"],"id":137665,"author_id":"Kelseyleigh+Reber"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":32,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}