Mitch Albom

an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson

Tuesdays with Morrie

Essence

“…And love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone."

He smiled. "You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives, Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can't wait until sixty-five.

"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty- two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."

Take any emotion-love for a woman, or grief for a loved one, or what I'm going through, fear and pain from a deadly ill- ness. If you hold back on the emotions-if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them-you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.

This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there's someone who is watching out for them. It's what I missed so much when my mother died-what I call your spiritual security'-knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame."

"Is it today, little bird?" he asked. "Is it today?"

"The truth is, Mitch," he said, "once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

"Everyone knows they're going to die," he said again, "but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."

And I suppose tapes, ike photographs and videos, are a desperate attempt to steal something from death's suitcase.

"It's horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it's also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye."

"'Sometimes, in the mornings," he said. That's when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands- whatever I can still move-andI mourn what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidi- ous way in which I'm dying. But then I stop mourning."

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."

An Old Man, a Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson

hannah 

But I do know we’re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted. 

Maybe it was a grandparent, a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and impassioned, helped you to see the world as a more profound place, and gave you sound advice to guide your way through it. For Mitch Albom, it was Morrie Schwartz, the college professor who taught him nearly twenty years ago.

Perhaps, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as the years passed, the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, to ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, and receive wisdom for your busy life the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch Albom got that second chance, rediscovering Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live. 'Tuesdays with Morrie' is a magical chronicle of their time together.

An old man, a young man and life's greatest lesson

dee 🍊

“The most important thing in lite is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in, His voice dropped to a whisper. "Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love. We think if we let it in we’ll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said, 'Love is the only rational act.”

I thought of something else Morrie had told me: “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-aslep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”

Have I told you about the tension of opposites?" he says 

Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted. 

“A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of 1us live sonmewhere in the middle." 

Sounds like a wrestling match, I say. A wrestling match.' He laughs. “Yes, you could describe life that way.”

 So which side wins, I ask? Which side wins?" He smiles at me, the crinkled eyes, the crooked teeth. "Love wins. Love always wins.”

"Are you at peace with yourself? "Are you trying to be as human as you can be?"

Ted," he said, when all this started, I asked myself, ‘Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I'm going to live - or at least try to live - the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure. "There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I'm so angry and bitter. But it doesn't last too long. Then I get up and say, ‘I want to live…’

Bi Di

"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it. Create your own.”

"Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do"; "Accept the past as past, without denying and discarding it"; "Learn to forgive yourself and forgive others"; "don't assume that it's too late to get involved."

The world, I discovered, was not all that interested

He told his friends that if they really wanted to help him, they would treat him not with sympathy but with visits, phone calls, a sharing of their problem.

I didn't want to forget him. Maybe I didn't want him to forget me.

if i can carry this book with me everywhere I would 

florrr

a book that was so profound and impactful when i least expected it. i went into this book completely blind, having only read the blurb and nothing more. no reviews, no tiktoks, nothing. so i was fully expecting a cheesy self help book, with the same regurgitated (and shallow) ‘motivations’

morrie’s spirit shines through the pages as if he’s really next to you and speaking these wisdoms directly in your ear. the words, so simple yet so touching, had me feeling like i knew morrie personally. i never cry over books and yet this was one i had to put down multiple times to cry. often, id take a break to reflect on a quote so altering and changing. 

satvi

a book that was so profound and impactful when i least expected it. i went into this book completely blind, having only read the blurb and nothing more. no reviews, no tiktoks, nothing. so i was fully expecting a cheesy self help book, with the same regurgitated (and shallow) ‘motivations’

i could not have been more wrong. 

morrie’s spirit shines through the pages as if he’s really next to you and speaking these wisdoms directly in your ear. the words, so simple yet so touching, had me feeling like i knew morrie personally. i never cry over books and yet this was one i had to put down multiple times to cry. often, id take a break to reflect on a quote so altering and changing. 

i could not recommend this book enough. 



Sarvesh Pansare

Your book was so good, Mitch, but I can give you 5 stars because of your choice, sorry. 

To be honest, as a reader, I did not expect that the background of this story could be summarised so well by Mitch from his perspective as a student and from his perspective who knows how the stories and stories from Morrie's life. Before reading, Mitch had informed that all information was based on what he knew and saw and through Morrie's family, friends, and close people.

The book takes the reader on a journey through the lives of Morrie and Mitch through the meetings they have every week on Tuesdays. The book is divided into two major parts, the background story and the class by Morrie.

Your book was so good, Mitch, but I can give you 5 stars because of your choice, sorry. 

-

To be honest, as a reader, I did not expect that the background of this story could be summarised so well by Mitch from his perspective as a student and from his perspective who knows how the stories and stories from Morrie's life. Before reading, Mitch had informed that all information was based on what he knew and saw and through Morrie's family, friends, and close people.

The book takes the reader on a journey through the lives of Morrie and Mitch through the meetings they have every week on Tuesdays. The book is divided into two major parts, the background story and the class by Morrie.



this reset my little mind and probably force developed some of my frontal lobe when i was a tween

felicity hu

Yanna Alghamdi

“If you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.”

chaca

finished a week ago. this book has been on my wishlist for months and i bought it with the old cover at thrift store :D every single page of this book is heartwarming i could read it thousand times.... life changed.

Read this book back in 8th grade for my literature class but i forgot the storyline yet remembered how much i loved it. I reread it again and now understood why i loved it! It’s so good, so many life lessons gist came out of this book and i love it so much when a book taught me how to live life a little better. ♥️

one of the best books ive ever read hands down. keep coming back to it to remind me of the important things. i feel like this is a book everyone should read at least once in their life.

sneha

I remember watching the Oprah special that she had on this during my senior year of high school and I remembered the show just tearing me apart. So whenever i started this book I was afraid of the same thing happening and the story is just a great as I remembered. Yes, I did tear up at the end when morrie died , but I feel as though it was important for me to read and revisit this story again because it helped me realize how I had been taking people in my life for granted.

Chulandon leanday Bradley 

I think that everyone should read this book at least once in their lifetime. It is absolutely touching and inspiring.

Madyson Payne

Vicky  Nuñez 

I have mixed feeling about this book. Maybe it was the wrong time to read, maybe I should have waited a bit longer or maybe I should not have read it at all. 

I loved Morrie, who can read about him and not fall in love with that dear old man, he is the embodiment of what every human being wants: love, nurture, understanding & someone who would always see and think the better of everyone and try to help them and teach all that hew knows.

Then there's Mitch Albom, he is an amazing person, he does not hide who he is and is very honest about who he was before re-meeting Morrie, that said I think he is full of it. Sometimes I was torn between believing him & or just feeling he was playing with me. 

Overall, I might have to pick up this book someday in the future and try to see something I may have missed and that which makes people love it.... or maybe I won't and I'll always feel this way about it.

thank you, Morrie Schwartz, thank you Mitch Albom

Lettuce Wrapped Cabbage Cat

𝒦

4.5/5⭐️ finished this at 12.25 am……. crying myself to sleep now

I am sorry to change my ratings. I had to give this masterpiece one star. I love your work, but not your choices. I just can't stand with zionist. 

-
What a wonderful book. So far, Tuesdays With Morrie is definitely my ultimate comfort book that I will re-read countless times when I lost my path. It feels like we being reminded why we are here to stay true to ourselves, what really matters to us, and what to prepare before we die.

Tuesdays With Morrie represents a beautiful bond between the professor and his ex-student. The book—or rather, Morrie—talks as much about death as about life, if not more. Because after all, the nature of life lies in death itself. In some moments, the book might seem to be preaching too much. But for me, that feeling never lasted, because the book is a short read that is filled with wonderful anecdotes, a gentle humour, and emotional sensitivity. This book is inspiring and written in a veritably beautiful manner. Every emotion of a person at deathbed is coming alive in words. This is more affiliated to ground realities of life. It gives a different perspective to life that aging is not our choice but growing definitely is. The lessons of life are learned through the experiences.

It speaks not only about Morrie, it is about what life is. The lessons are applicable and help us connect to others beyond the bonds of blood. It helps us see humanity as one brotherhood awaiting the same fate irrespective of plutocrat estate colour or creed. As I read it, I realized that life itself is precious. Morrie is dead, but his life has benefited others.

Annika Arguemore

Honestly, this book makes me feel hollow. This book makes me feel like society's got a hold of me and that I'm not worthy enough to be called wise because Morrie, bless him, is the epitome of wise. Tear-jerking and heartfelt, I recommend that everyone read this philosophical piece of art. I want to apply this novel to my life. I hope I do. Tuesdays With Morrie is such an inspiration.

Jensyn Ronca

I got this at a random lawn book sale, and it was already annotated by the previous owner I assume. Less for me to do AND very insightful to read with written thoughts and highlighted sentences from someone I’ll never meet

franz

beautiful but it was less than what i expected

lea.

Benedict Neo

A lesson on how to live your life and to not fear death.

Joe F

Wow. I'm not ashamed to admit this brought me to tears, because Morrie says there is nothing wrong with crying. Having my own near death experience has taught me many of the things Morrie talked about. We waste so much time on pointless bullshit. Go hang out with people you love, do the things you enjoy, and have no regrets. Everyone should read this book.

Tuesdays with Morrie an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson

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