We can learn a lot from the songs Taylor writes, but she’s also shared wisdom in other places over the years — interviews, speeches, etc. In honor of his birthday (and its almost 3 month anniversary your storyits release!), I’ve collected some of my favorite Taylor Swift quotes is not From the lyrics!
on relationships
- Treat people well. Being nice to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.
- Being alone doesn’t have to be lonely. Even if you are not involved in romance, you can find romance in your life. Life can be beautiful and spontaneous and amazing and romantic and magical without some love affair happening to you. You can replace the feelings you used to have with your friends and learning new things and challenging yourself and living your life on your own terms.
- Your heart may be broken, but never by the same hand twice.
- There are two different categories of love. The first category is called fairy tales. Another lesson is called the second class of love.
- We should love, not fall in love, because what falls breaks.
- Forgive yourself for going through something that didn’t go the way you thought it would.
- You can love people without loving it great.
- True love is having the courage to walk away and let the other person who wants to be free go no matter how much it hurts.
- Just because something ends doesn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly beautiful.
- People fuel you, they fuel every part of you and they make you walk taller and they present you in a more vibrant way.
- There are no rules when it comes to love. I just try to make love surprise me.
- You may think you’ll never get over it. But you also thought it would last forever.
- Grow a backbone, trust your gut, and know when to hit back. Be like a snake – bite only if someone steps on you.
- A word you use to intentionally hurt someone you’ll regret more than leaving unsaid.
trying
- Don’t be shy to try. Effortlessness is a myth.
- The worst kind of person is someone who makes someone feel bad, dumb, or stupid…getting excited about something. I don’t think you should ever apologize for your excitement just because something is cliché doesn’t mean it isn’t great.
- Learn to live alongside the cruise. No matter how hard you try to avoid crying, you will look back on your life and look back.
- It’s normal to try and fail and try again and fail again.
- Giving up doesn’t mean you’re weak, sometimes you’re strong enough to quit.
on happiness
- Life doesn’t always give you what you want. You’re not always going to get your way. You are going to get your heart broken, something is going to happen to you, chaos is going to happen. But you have to choose your own happiness. You choose it. It doesn’t always choose you. It doesn’t always show up, knocking on your door. Sometimes you have to create your own happiness.
- If you can’t find joy in small things, like mop carts, you’re doing it wrong.
- Happiness is not a constant. You get fleeting glimpses. You have to fight for those moments, but they make it worth it.
Hard times are on
- Hard things happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will be more resilient because of it.
- There are two ways you can go with pain. You can let it destroy you or use it as fuel to drive you.
- It’s all about how you deal with loss. I respond to extreme pain with contempt.
- We think that these bad things are happening to me or us. If you spin it right and you react in a certain way, those things can happen for you.
- If you encounter resistance, you’re probably doing something new. If you are experiencing turbulence or stress, it probably means you are rising. And there may be times when you put all your heart and soul into something and it is met with condemnation or skepticism. You can’t let that crush you. You have to let it fuel you.
- Never trust anyone who tells you that you don’t deserve what you want.
On self-awareness
- You are the only one who can decide what you are remembered for.
- Just be you, there is no one better than you.
- If you go too far down the rabbit hole of what people think of you, it can change everything about who you are.
- If you are lucky enough to be different, never change.
- People will judge you anyway, so you might as well do whatever you want.
- You’re not going anywhere because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet.
- He’s lost her, but he’s found himself, and somehow that’s everything.
- The smallest thing can change the course of your day, which can change the course of your year, which can change who you are.
- You are not the opinion of someone who doesn’t know you.
- You should think of energy as if it were expensive, as if it were a luxury. Not everyone can afford it.
- You have been you all your life, but we are different shades of ourselves at different volume levels…
- Whatever you feed your brain, it will internalize; Whatever you feed on the internet, it kills.
let go on
- You only have so much space in your life and so much energy to give to those in it. be prudent
- Losing things is not just about losing. Sometimes, when we lose things, we also gain things.
- Life can be overwhelming, especially if you try to carry it all at once. Part of growing up and moving on to a new chapter in your life is catching up and releasing; You can’t carry all things, keep what you have and let the rest go.
- You may think you’ll never get over it. But you also thought it would last forever.
- Stuck. It gets easier, and then it gets right, and then it feels like freedom.
sound and music
- The people weren’t always there for me, but the music always was.
- Having a great idea with songwriting is a lot like love. You don’t know why this one is different, but it is. You don’t know why it’s better, but it is. It’s stuck in your head, and you can’t stop thinking about it.
- Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use them for your good, because the words you’ll regret more than the words left unsaid are the ones you intentionally use to hurt someone.
On bravery and action
- There will come times in life when you have to stand up for yourself. Time when the right thing is to back down and apologize. Sometimes the right thing is to fight, sometimes the right thing is to turn and run. Time to hold onto what you have and let go with grace.
- “I could, but it’s too late now.”
- Anytime you stand against or for anything, you will never get unanimous praise. But that forces you to be brave.
- There is a time for silence, there is a time for waiting your turn but if you know how you feel and you know exactly what to say you will know, I don’t think you should wait. I think you should talk now.
- Fearless to me does not mean the absence of fear. It’s not being completely scary. To me fearless is fear. Have fearless doubts. A lot of them. To me, fearless living is despite the things that scare you to death.
- Every day I try to remind myself of the good in the world. I have faith in the love and humanity I have witnessed. To truly feel alive we need to live boldly and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears.
- My response to anything, good or bad, is to make things. Keep making art.
- The most successful people in this world are those who never stop questioning, who never stop being curious and who never stop searching for the truth.
These are just a few words of wisdom gleaned from Taylor over the years. And, since we’re nearing the end of the year here, I’ll leave you with another simple-but-true reminder from Taylor: “It’s a new year. A new beginning. And everything will change.”
Check out Your Story: A Swifty Journal and Coloring Book for Self-Discovery For Taylor Swift-inspired inspiration and introspection. Available wherever you want to buy the book or here.
