For most of us, Pinterest is the hottest place on the Internet to find pictures of wedding stuff that you can’t afford, recipes for food that you won’t be able to cook properly, and gorgeous home craft projects that, in real life, always end up looking like you rolled a toilet paper tube in glitter glue while drunk.
But there is one other arena in which Pinterest is the undisputed mistress of the interwebs: the inspirational quote. In the wilds of Pinterest, any thought, from a thought-provoking Ruth Bader Ginsberg quote to something that your high school best friend said after you guys drank wine coolers for the first time, becomes equally sage wisdom (once it is set, in a suitably cute font, across a background of an artfully Instagrammed sunset, of course).
But all those vague calls to be true to yourself, those nebulous life rules about saving your real friends from fake drama and your fake friends from real drama (or was it the other way around) — do you ever wonder what they actually mean?
In an effort to tear away the veil of mystery that surrounds the true meanings of Pinterest quotes, we have provided a helpful decoder below, which reveals the honest thoughts behind all those endlessly re-pinned quotes about fate and self-sufficiency. And remember, if people can’t handle your Pinterest inspirational quotes at their worst, then they don’t deserve your Pinterest inspirational quotes at their best.
1. In place of that quote about how diamonds are a girl's best friend, or something
2. In place of "You complete me"
3. In place of "Keep Calm and Carry On"
4. In place of "Everything happens for a reason"
5. In place of that quote about inner peace that you're attributing to Rumi
6. This one will just make you feel better about your Pinterest addiction, and it includes bacon
7. In place of that "Every girl deserves to be treated like a princess" quote
8. In place of that "Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together" break-up inspo quote that everyone attributes to Marilyn Monroe but is probably a line from Sex and the City
9. Also in place of that "Every girl deserves to be treated like a princess" quote, or something else regarding unconditional love
10. Clearly in place of "The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step"
Illustrations and artwork by our girl Caroline Wurtzel
