“Life isn't a lazy cruise on some endless, calm, and temperate sea. Life is a raging ocean with swells and tidal waves that wreck and sink your boat. Life is a series of storms―overcast skies, fierce winds, and pelting rain. You were meant to be immersed in it all―first to float, then swim, and eventually to walk on water.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“No one is born a sprinter. We all learn to push ourselves up from the floor and then balance before taking that first, wobbly step. It is an individual choice where to go from there.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“I'm starting to think this world is just a place for us to learn that we need each other more than we want to admit.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“You cannot know what I do not tell you, yet you will be judged harshly for not knowing.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Curiosity killed the cat, but not before teaching her that honey bees are not sweet, tweeting birds are slow to react, mice can serve as both toys and food, big dogs like to snuggle, falling isn’t flying, cream drips from lazy cows, water should be avoided at all costs, baths don’t require getting wet, kindness and cruelty often fall from the same hand, and engines remain comfortably warm long after the motor dies.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“I love you for a great many reasons and despite a great many others.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Life is not what happens to us; it is what we perceive has happened to us.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“When you love someone, you don’t care that she ate your sandwich. You only hope she found it delicious.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Love in its essence is unconditional. When conditions, exceptions, and ultimatums are cast into the mix, its purity changes. It is no longer love and should be referred to by a less-desirable name.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“I believe people are more inclined to do their best, not when they feel loved, but when they feel loved regardless.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“To have a caring and committed heart toward someone—a heart so firm in its devotion as to sooner stop beating than neglect the object of its desire despite the person's state of health, appearance, reputation, finances, troubles, or challenges—that, dear world, is love. It is a rare find.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I believe in love―a kind, selfless, unending devotion. I believe it is rare.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“If you feel that love isn't all it's cracked up to be, then you've never truly possessed it. For true love is the most desirable treasure in existence. It is a glory worth any sacrifice.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Then what is true love?” she asked audaciously.
Derian leaned forward, his focus powerfully set on her. His voice turned delicate and compelling as he spoke.
“Love is so much more than an emotion. True love, Eena, is something that develops over time. It’s not the initial infatuation nor the shivers and butterflies that take your breath away when you’re first attracted to someone. Those things are nice, but they are barely the beginning of what could become true love. The emotions you speak of are temporary and unreliable, elicited when two people come together. The power I speak of grows ever stronger over time until it is steadfast, even in separation. Then, reunited, it solidifies unshakably.”
She shook her head. “I don’t quite follow.”
The captain inched closer, fixing her with the sincerest of gazes. His hands cupped as if he were holding his very heart in them. “True love is a developed and intense appreciation for someone. It’s that perfect awareness you’re finally whole when she’s with you, and that hollow incompleteness you suffer when she’s gone. True love takes time. It’s an earned comfort that tells you she’ll be right there beside you no matter what you do, not necessarily happy with your every action, but faithful to you just the same. Love is knowing someone so deeply, understanding her so completely, you can finish her thoughts without hesitation, confident in reading her face, her body, even her slightest gesture means something to you. Love is years of devotion, sacrifice, commitment, loyalty, trust, faith, and friendship all wrapped up as one. True love does more than cause your heart to flutter. It upholds your heart when the infatuation no longer makes it flutter.”
“Wow.”
Source: Eena, The Return of a Queen
“True love asks no question of the heart. It knows with surety.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“The bitterest hardships, the most daunting trials; none of these are burdens if it means being with you.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“A kiss says it all—
I like you.
I love you.
I need you.
I want you.
I value you.
I fancy you.
I adore you.
I prefer you.
I missed you.
I cherish you.
I support you.
I care for you.
I long for you.
I think of you.
I treasure you.
I hope for you.
I consider you.
I dream of you.
I delight in you.
I appreciate you.
And I will never, ever forget you.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“A whiff of fresh mint
that tastes like strawberry pie.
Your kisses tempt me.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Sometimes poets expect me to think far deeper than I'm willing to dig.”
“I sat in a box
With walls on each side.
Not too tall.
Not too wide.
To think.
To ponder.
To pray.
To hide.
I sat in a box and cried.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“If you often feel alone, ignored, or forgotten, think about this: closing the door and locking yourself in won't change anything—literally and figuratively.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Even among familiar faces, people often feel invisible and desolate, like an island in cold waters or a shadow apart from the crowd. Be the reason another never feels alone.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Freedom is essential to the pursuit of happiness.
Freedom is essential to artistic evolution and expression.
Freedom is essential to the expansion of the human mind.
Freedom is essential to the development and application of basic humanitarianism.
Freedom is essential to the creation of an individual's will, motivations, preferences, and unique talents.
In essence, freedom is essential to the success and progress of humanity.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“You were formed inside a borrowed womb—a nourishing safe haven for months—then delivered through painful effort and sacrifice by a woman willing to give you the precious gift of life. That truth alone deserves your gratitude and respect.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“You were born and with you endless possibilities, very few ever to be realized. It's okay. Life was never about what you could do, but what you would do.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Without you there would be no me.
I am everything reflected in your eyes.
I am everything approved by your smile.
I am everything born of your guidance.
I am me only because of you.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“I always envisioned myself as traveling the ocean of life in a rowboat where my mother was one oar and my father, the other. Having two good, solid oars made rowing much easier.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Validate my existence with your words and I will speak to you all the day long.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“I am but the reflection in your eyes, the effect of your expressions, and the sum of your praise and criticism.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“You can't make me be nice.
You can't make me be good.
You can't make me believe.
But your example, your kindness, your patience and love will affect me perhaps enough that eventually I may choose to do those things.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“You can believe what you've been told. You can imagine in vivid detail the things explained to you. You may even feel emotions assumed to accompany the related experience. But you absolutely cannot know something with any real degree of understanding until you've personally walked the road yourself.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Integrity is more than truth and honesty; integrity is an unshackled mind, a happy heart, and a light spirit. Integrity is inner peace with a clear, clean conscience. Integrity is self-respect, honor, and credibility. Integrity is healthy and unfettering, and it is worth defending.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Too often we let others stamp a price tag on us, and we accept their appraisal of our worth, forgetting we are in fact priceless.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“It is a pleasurable thing to earn the admiration of others, but it is a far better feeling to honestly admire thyself.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I finally figured out the big, elusive secret to weight loss. Don't eat! Who knew?”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“You are here to make a difference, to either improve the world or worsen it. And whether or not you consciously choose to, you will accomplish one or the other.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Every brush stroke on the canvas, every dab of color introduced, the fine textures impressed in the paint—this accumulation of many small acts combines to shape a final work of art. And so it is with life; each step, each deed, each brief choice builds gradually, day by day, to shape both character and destiny.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Many of us draw lines which we intend never to cross.
But life tests our resolve, mercilessly at times, and a foot budges, nudged past that thinly-drawn line. So we draw another, resolving never to cross this one. Days grow dark and fog creeps in to blind our view, clouding the reason for the line’s existence from our minds. We draw another mark, ashamed that the last was crossed with less coaxing than we imagined it would require. Shadows and doubts give further need to draw a new line, and then another and another.
Lines, I think, are too slim and obscure to be dependable deterrents for behavior. Too often, too easily, people stumble into places they later regret entering. What, then, keeps some individuals from crossing those narrow lines?
It is the power of values.
For if a person possessing values were to step one foot outside their line, they would be forced to release hands with those inflexible values and consciously abandon them. But their values are persuasive, keeping a tight grip, warding off the luring temptations beckoning one to test the line. Thus values maintained keep a person safely away from areas they dare not travel, steering a life between the lines, enhancing willpower and shaping mighty strength of character.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Life is not about having perfect days. Life is not about handling days perfectly. Life is about perfecting one’s character through the having and handling of every given day.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“It’s easy to be kind to friends who return your smiles and happily lend a helping hand. But the true test of good character is finding the will and desire to be kind and charitable to those who give us absolutely no motivation to do so.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“It is neither trials nor relationships nor successes nor failures that define a man, but the choices he makes while handling them.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“A liar deceives himself more than anyone, for he believes he can remain a person of good character when he cannot.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“One of the most critical decisions made in life is choosing with whom to spend your time. For it is those close relationships that gradually mold our character until we become a reflection of the company we keep.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Some people are like gravity; they draw you into a room with a hop in your step and a smile on your face. Others are like the stench of sulfur; they make you scowl and want to swivel on the balls of your feet towards a quick exit. Have you stopped to think if you are gravity or sulfur?”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“You need tell me nothing; I already know your heart. Through your simplest choices you've given yourself away.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Life is a character-building opportunity that we all volunteered for.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Ian was a good man—honest, trustworthy, loyal, and of honorable character. His desire to keep his promise to Angelle and to be a respectable servant of Harrowbeth would always take president over any personal feelings, no matter how intense or gratifying they might be. He would never betray Harrowbeth. He would never cheat Derian or Angelle. He would never deceive his queen, even if in so doing he would find a love and happiness they both longed to share. His commitment to what he saw as right meant more.”
Source: Eena, The Curse of Wanyaka Cave
“For whatever reason, there are people we like and people we don't like. It's hard to say why, and often a difficult opinion to change. Luckily, there's no steadfast rule stating that we must like everyone. But to keep from disliking ourselves, we should develop the good character to treat everyone kindly whether or not we deem them deserving.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Life is a test. It was designed to be so. It is where we taste the bitter and the sweet; where we feel pain and pleasure; where we learn right from wrong; where we pass through both darkness and light. It is a time to make choices. And through this process we form our characters—some grand and glorious, some barely decent, and others just plain monstrous.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“What's in a name? The accumulation of reputations from all who've owned it before you.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year