“Feeling discouraged does not mean you quit. Feeling sad does not mean joy is nonexistent. Feeling lonely does not mean you are alone. Feeling anxious does not mean you are in danger. Feeling loss does not mean you have nothing. Feeling angry does not mean you lose control. Feeling sorry does not mean you are at fault. What you feel is not necessarily what is.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“I find only sadness and melancholy when I wade through the past, even when revisiting good memories. The past is gone; I can neither grasp it nor reshape it. Therefore, I must force my eyes to look toward the future where my mortal powers thrive.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“It’s the best I have,” he said in earnest.
“I know,” she whispered, not ungrateful but with woe unfeigned. “It just isn’t good enough. Not today.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“In the shallow glory of victory, there is momentous cost. Enemies are forged there while peace is irremediably devastated.”
Source: The Tarishe Curse
“People will insist on building high and wide barriers directly in your path, often with the intent of closing you in. If you treat these obstacles like fencing walls, they will prove mightily so. I choose to see them as grand towers meant to be scaled and conquered, providing an added victory as well as a great view of the journey ahead.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“The key to success is having no qualms about failure.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“People need people who show that they care.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“People are a lot like clay. They come in differing shades and consistencies and are easier to mold than one might think. Sometimes, they harden up a bit. Sometimes, God adds a little water to soften them. In every aspect—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually—a person can be successfully pressed and turned and smoothed by degrees. These subtle changes often go unnoticed until added upon over time. The sad thing isn’t how our claylike qualities give so easily to change. No. What is sad is the innumerable people who fail to realize they have the tools to mold their own clay.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Regardless of whether you admit it or not, if you have done wrong then you have done wrong. No excuse, no lie, no alibi, no rationalization or justification will change it. And no power under Heaven can conceal it from the all-seeing eyes of God.”
Source: Hope Evermore: Quotes, Verse, & Spiritual Inspiration for Every Day of the Year
“Deceit, distortion, misdirection, and concealment are all lies in altered masks.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“I can overlook the lie; what's harder to ignore is the grotesque way it has marred your character.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Lies don't fit snugly into disguises. Eventually the cloak falls off and you're left staring at the naked truth which is always an uncomfortable situation.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“The most important form of respect is self-respect. Not only does it show others how to treat themselves, it teaches them how to treat you.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Disappointments are healthy for us. They tame egos, deflate pride, and soften hearts while cultivating respect for the struggles experienced by all humanity.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Failure is respectable. Quitting is not. If you have worked hard and failed after giving every effort to make use of the opportunities available—so be it. At least you fought with all your might to make it otherwise. That is deserving of respect.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Barking at people earns their respect about as effectively as staring into the sun improves your vision.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Fear is not respect. It is but a conniving, little weasel next to that mighty lion. They are a far, far cry from the same animal.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Had she any respect for him at all, his words would've affected her. But no value accompanies comments spewed from the mouth of a brute.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“When you devalue ethics and morals by proclaiming that our attitude toward them should be casual or lenient, you can't be surprised by a rising generation who then behaves disrespectfully, treating life, people, and choices as if they possess little value or worth. For whether or not that was the intention, society has taught them to believe thusly.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Disappointment is really just a term for our refusal to look on the bright side.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Life can seem like a gloomy wait in the thick of black shadows.
And still there are those who smile at the darkness, anticipating the beauty of an eventual sunrise.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Hope is the fuel within all human souls.
Eliminate hope—nothing moves, nothing grows.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Imagined happiness is still happiness.”
Source: The Tarishe Curse
“The cup is both half full and half empty; it has never been one or the other. Stop obsessing over a trivial point and be thankful you have something to drink.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Laugh as if it's funny, embrace as if it's love, and smile anyway.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Optimism: That effervescent, blindingly- bright, perky, chipper, twittering quality you want to squash out of annoying people.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Rewards live at the far edge of honest sweat, heavy toil, and dogged determination.”
Source: A Heart Made of Tissue Paper
“Accomplishments don’t just fall in your lap, they first demand a great deal from you—things like study and learning; intentional, arduous work; steadfast determination; ongoing attempts despite failures; personal sweat, blood, tears; and moments of exhaustion. Accomplishments don’t just fall in your lap, the demand actual growth.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Becoming the person you want to be always involves work. It requires purpose, dedication, perseverance, and a fair amount of deliberate change.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Work for your dreams and then watch as, little by little, obstacles crumble to make way for success.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Hush, hush.
Hear the earth breathe.
Watch the wildflowers bloom.
Feel the calm of the silent dawn.
Be still.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Afraid of offending with an off word or the slightest insensitivity, I keep an unobtrusive and silent distance. Nevertheless, my pursed lips and offish stance are perceived as cold, managing to offend all.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“The sweetest melody that plays
on starry nights and wintry days,
most soothing to my listening ears
and calming to beleaguering fears,
I call a symphony on air―
the song of sweet, still silence rare.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Statistics, likelihoods, and probabilities mean everything to men, nothing to God.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Relax; the world's not watching that closely. It's too busy contemplating itself in the mirror.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Two powerful, little words I've learned to use when facing challenges, fears, and doubts—so what?”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I slept in the closet that night. Paranoia and a wild imagination had me picturing a drunken man tearing into my bedroom with an automatic weapon, screaming like a lunatic while blasting holes in my mattress until fluffs of padding flew everywhere and no sleeping child could possibly be left breathing.
The closet just felt safer.”
Source: Dandelions: The Disappearance of Annabelle Fancher
“I would prefer that you not touch me," I said when her hand moved as if she intended to comb her long nails through my hair.
"I’m afraid it can’t be helped," she replied. Her fingers passed close to my ear as they divided my straight lengths into sections and lifted the whole away from my face. There was a brazenness to her smile for a moment. She then released my hair, letting it fall onto my shoulders.
I swallowed back a rise of anxiety, wondering if Thaddeus was right to fear her.”
Source: The Tarishe Curse
“Poetry is the wailing of a broken heart―the etched sorrows of despairing souls. These artful words are an exclamation in rare colors expressed noiselessly on parchment.
Poetry is the unheard cry of a flower, wilting. It is a humble, lucent tear shed with meaning. It is the lovely portrayal of ugliness and the bitter edge of sweet.
Poetry speaks to the spirit by piercing understanding. It interprets all senseless truths―beauty, love, emotion―into sensible scrawl.
Poetry is vague affirmation and bewildering clarification. Like the most poignant of emotions, we understand the essence but cannot adequately do it verbal justice, crippled by inherently weak tongues.
A spiritual soothsayer, poetry is the closest thing to expression of feelings unutterable.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Sunlight’s warmth on my face awoke me in the morning. I didn’t remember falling asleep or how I came to be in my own bed. But I did recall nightmares. Awful nightmares featuring Gwen.
I turned my head to stare out an open window where the sun shone in full splendor, bleaching a clear sky enough to tell it was going to be a beautiful spring day. The air smelled of rain from overnight showers, mixed with a strong floral scent. A large lilac bush outside was responsible for the perfume. I breathed in the clean and fragrant air.
My eyelids fluttered, blinking at a stunning reflection of daylight off the glass. The blue beyond gave an exquisite glow to my room. All of it was an invitation to bask in a new day—an invitation I declined because none of that mattered to me. The world might as well come to a dark and ugly end. I saw no reason for beauty or life to go on so long as Gwen was lost.
Rolling over in bed, I felt the vice grips wrench at my heart again as I cried myself back to sleep.
from Phantom's Veil”
“How does a tiny heart harbor so many clashing sentiments?
One moment it is devoted. The next, purely disdaining. Weeping at tremendous heartache and then laughing, lighthearted, through the same tears.
How can a heart rage so fierce as to boil blood while it turns to ice?
How is this done?
To love, hate, esteem, deride, rejoice, deplore, favor, resent—
all of these and more swirling inside.
This sensitive heart, so full and resilient, buoys up to the point of bursting and then deflates on a dime. It is a slave to whims and whispers.
How is it that the human heart beats so wild and untamed?”
Source: A Heart Made of Tissue Paper
“Such a nasty bruise,” he says, staring straight into my eyes. I am stunned he can see it. Delicate to the touch and tender on every side, the bruise is deeper than days. My hand automatically moves to my chest.
Science taught me with valid assurance that my heart was fixed in my rib cage, but life has since shown me otherwise. My heart in fact dangles from a tangle of strings. The ends are grasped tight by numerous people who yank and release, having caused many painful bruises over time. I cry because they are invisible to most.
“Such a nasty bruise,” he repeats, tugging on my poor heart.
His kind eyes fall away from mine as I feel a squeeze on my arm. He twists it enough to show me a small, round patch of purple surrounded by a sickly yellowish corona.
“Oh. My elbow.” I let the air exhale from my lungs. Another bruise forms where my heart has hit the floor. It is jerked up again.
“Can I do anything for you?” I see in his eyes the mirror image of a finger—his finger—wrapped in one of the dangling strings. He tugs and I feel it.
“No,” I reply to his question. But it is a lie. There is something he could do, along with all who grasp a portion of the web entangling my heart. I wish they would mercifully let go.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“My pain builds like storm clouds―massive, dark, and heavy with teardrops. Moisture falls torrential as if my world is a violent, eternal downpour; however, at long last the source runs dry and the bitter storm does cease. Blue skies dare to glow where the gloom has dissipated. I breathe it in, hoping to cleanse my inner soul. A laden heart tells me the truth: the clear sky is an illusion. Old pain rushes back like a flood, providing means for clouds to form and expand once again until it is too much to bear and the heaviness turns to rain. I cannot find refuge from this woe. It is my never-ending heartache.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Rain is a lullaby heard through a thick, isolating blanket of clouds. It is the tinkling harp of water droplets; a moist breath whistling through willow reeds; a pattering beat background to the mourner's melody. Rain is a soft song of compassion for the brokenhearted.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Words never fade away but echo on for eternity. Let your echo ring sweet.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Easter is joy, hope, love, and renewal.
Easter is proof that we can begin again.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“The Holy Ghost is peace. Christ is joy. God is love.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“Peace is the natural result of righteous living. It comes when we are charitable. It blossoms as we spread joy to the world. It remains so long as we keep sacred covenants, commandments, and promises. And during those faithful, sometimes desperate moments, we cling to God, it acts as a sure anchor. Let me repeat the truth: genuine inner peace is the natural result of righteous living.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year
“If God were to make a million lovely flowers in your image and plant them in a garden with you among them, I would still know you by your scent and by the feel of your petals and by the crazy way you lean towards my light whenever I draw near.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Sometimes happiness quietly curls up in your heart just to snuggle.”
Source: Being Bold: Quotes, Poetry, & Motivations for Every Day of the Year