“There are two kinds of people in this world: those who follow the popular majority, and those who possess good sense. In other words, you can either let the crowd steer you right over a cliff, or you can stop to peer beyond the brink and see how a fall will likely end in tragedy.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Words that should cross your lips with ease: thank you, love you, sorry, please.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Though I may accumulate a great deal of riches in this world, it is only my wealth of knowledge, talents, and emotional bonds that I keep when I leave.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“When it comes to the crusty behavior of some people, give them the benefit of the doubt. They may be drowning right before your eyes, but you can't see it. And you would never ask someone to drown with a smile on his face.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Patience is real self-mastery.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Alas, impatience is but another form of unhappiness. It is true, it is true. I have never met a happy impatient person.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Happiness is never in a rush. If you move too fast, you leave it behind.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Impatience is racing at misery full speed.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Patience is seeing each step as a journey rather than seeing a journey as a thousand steps.”
“If kindness is beauty, patience is disarming elegance.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“I am more and more convinced that some people are put in our lives solely to try our patience and tamper with our tolerance levels.”
“My Floating Sea"
"Pastel colors reflect in my opening eyes and draw my gaze to a horizon where the waters both begin and end. This early in the day I can easily stare without blinking. The pale sea appears calm, but it is stormy just as often. I awe at the grandeur, how it expands beyond my sight to immeasurable depths. In every direction that I twist my neck, a beauteous blue is there to console me.
Flowing, floating ribbons of mist form on these pale waters. In harmony they pirouette, creating a stretch of attractive, soft swirls. Swoosh! The wind, its strength in eddies and twisters, smears the art of dancing clouds, and the white disperses like startled fairies fleeing into the forest. Suddenly all is brilliant blue.
The waters calm and clear. It warms me. Pleases me. Forces my eyes to close at such vast radiance. My day is spent surrounded by this ethereal sea, but soon enough the light in its belly subsides. Rich colors draw my gaze to the opposite horizon where the waters both begin and end. I watch the colors bleed and deepen. They fade into black.
Yawning, I cast my eyes at tiny gleams of life that drift within the darkened waters. I extend my reach as if I could will my arm to stretch the expanse between me and eons. How I would love to brush a finger over a ray of living light, but I know I cannot.
Distance deceives me.
These little breathing lights floating in blackness would truly reduce me to the tiniest size, like a mountain stands majestic over a single wild flower. I am overwhelmed by it all and stare up, in love with the floating sea above my head.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“It's strange how in childhood it feels like tomorrow won't come until the end of forever, but in adulthood it feels like the end of forever could come tomorrow.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Is anything truly impossible? Or is it that the path to our goals appears too unclear to follow? It seems to me that if you seek hard enough, pray hard enough, you usually stumble across a scattering of breadcrumbs that marks the trail leading to the goal you once considered beyond your reach.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Brazen it out! Throw away the scabbard! Grit your teeth, buckle down, and die with your boots on! Or in other words, be determined and resolved until you accomplish the thing you set out to accomplish.”
Source: Eena, The Companionship of the Dragon's Soul
“Teach me to sing and recite,
To whistle and jingle and strum.
Teach me to color and paint,
To sculpt and weave and create.
Teach me to sway and dance,
To tap and leap and twirl.
Teach me to laugh and giggle,
To tickle and play and pretend.
Teach me that life is beautiful.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“It’s not a dream, it’s my destiny.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Look down the road I’m traveling and you will see my goal; it’s there on the path. Probably closer than it appears. Life tends to roll that way.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Happiness found me alone one day and took me by the hand.
He showed me how the sun gave out its warmth across the land.
Sadness found me content and smiling upward at the sun.
He talked of droughts and blindness and what burning rays had done.
Happiness found me alone again and pointed to the sky.
He showed me how the storms created rainbows way up high.
Sadness found me intrigued and took me to the rainbow’s end.
He showed me how it disappeared to ne’er return again.
Happiness found me alone and taught me how to sing a song.
He sang a dozen melodies as I chirped right along.
Sadness found me singing out and covered up his ears.
He said the noise was deafening, and wished he couldn’t hear.
Happiness found me alone and gave me seven coins of gold.
He showed me many fancy things that merchants often sold.
Sadness found me admiring the pretty things I’d bought.
He pointed out my empty purse and money I had not.
Happiness found me alone and helped me talk to someone new.
He called the boy my friend and said that I was his friend too.
Sadness found me together with my kind, attentive friend.
He whispered of betrayal and how broken hearts don’t mend.
Happiness found me alone and held me tight in his embrace.
He whispered kindness in my ear and kissed me on the face.
Sadness found me with Happiness but before he spoke at all,
I told him he’d have better luck at talking to the wall.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“The crazy thing about poetry is how its simplicity makes it complicated.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“The bulk of life is discovering who you are—and then reconciling that with who you wish you were.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“This is me today, but take heed; it is not the same me as yesterday, and it will not be the same me tomorrow.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Kind words and tender affections will not save me from this lake of woe and misery, but they may be enough of a buoy to prevent my drowning.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“I had the most beautiful dream, and then I fell asleep in your arms and my dream turned lovelier still.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Often we withhold our affections, waiting first for love to be extended to us. The irony is that we are loved for loving.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“You made me laugh at your jokes.
You made me cry at your criticism.
You made me shout at your lies.
Then I noticed how in every case someone else was present,
hearing you without laughter or tears or anger.
I alone reacted.
I see now; you never made me laugh or cry or rage.
I chose to find humor.
I chose to take offense.
I chose to feel scorned.
The truth is, you never had power over me.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“You will realize one day that all the money in the world cannot buy you happiness. Nor can it make you a person of good character.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Ma'am," he said, reaching for the door. He held it open, his posture as erect and sturdy as a pole.
I eyed the man's uniform, the pins and badges that signified his military rank and position. At that moment I felt opposing forces wash over me, clashing internally like a cold and warm front meeting in the air.
At first I was hit by a burning sense of respect and gratitude. How privileged a person I was to have this soldier unbar the way for me, maintaining a clear path that I might advance unhindered. The symbolism marked by his actions did strike me with remarkable intensity. How many virtual doors would be shut in my face if not for dutiful soldiers like him?
As I went to step forward, my feet nearly faltered as if they felt unworthy. It was I who ought to be holding open the door for this gentleman—this representative of great heroes present and past who did fight and sacrifice and continue to do so to keep doors open, paths free and clear for all of humanity.
I moved through the entrance and thanked him.
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
How strange that I should feel such pride while passing through his open door.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Years ago, a group of good, wise, brave, God-fearing men stood up to claim and defend the human right for independence. Those men are now dead. Their work is not. If good, wise, brave, God-fearing men fail to stand up in their stead, that independence will cease to exist.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Freedom is the atmosphere in which humanity thrives. Breathe it in.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Some say freedom is a gift placed in our hands by our forefathers.
Some say freedom is a human right that none should be denied.
Some say freedom is a privilege that can and will be seized if taken for granted.
Some say freedom is the key that opens doors otherwise meant to imprison.
Some say freedom is power to do, to be, to say, and to accomplish what the oppressed cannot.
Some say freedom is a responsibility—a weight to be carried and shared by those willing to protect it.
Perhaps freedom is all these things.
But in my eyes, I see freedom as a treasure. It is a gem so rare and precious the fiercest battles rage over it. The blood of thousands is spilled for it—past, present, and future. Where true and unblemished freedom exists, it shines with perfect clarity, drawing the greedy masses, both those who desire a portion of the spoils and those who would rob the possessor of the treasure, hoping to bury it away.
Without freedom I am a slave in shackles on a ship lost at sea.
With freedom I am a captain; I am a pirate; I am an admiral; I am a scout; I am the eagle souring overhead; I am the north star guiding a crew; I am the ship itself; I am whatever I choose to be.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Are you ready to go home, Catherine?” he asked. “It’s warm inside the house. I kept a fire going for you.”
I continued looking at him, unsure how to respond. “Thanks,” I managed to say and then glanced in the direction of his house—our house.
“Well, you are my wife. And I know you don’t like the cold.”
I’m his wife, I thought to myself. He had said the words as if that simple fact made it necessary to be both thoughtful and kind. As if having gained a wife or husband meant having also gained her or his concerns, and hence the need to consider the person’s needs, wants, and preferences as strongly as one’s own. It struck me as a perfect description of what marriage ought to be. An agreeable notion that had not entered into my petty way of viewing matrimony. I would have assumed it to be above Thaddeus’ egotistical mindset as well.
“Catherine?” he said again, watching me regard him with a quizzical expression. “Are you ready to go home?”
I nodded, which made him smile.”
Source: The Tarishe Curse
“The denial of assistance is sometimes the greatest assistance. The trick is recognizing when this is the case.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Love is years of devotion, sacrifice, commitment, loyalty, trust, faith, and friendship all wrapped up in one. True love does more than cause your heart to flutter. It upholds your heart when the infatuation no longer makes it flutter.”
Source: Eena, The Return of a Queen
“Why certainly, words possess power. They do! But releasing their magic requires combining and arranging those words in the right order.”
“Authors always carry a means for scribbling and an excuse for pausing, often inopportunely, to record those fleeting sparks of creative fancy that might otherwise vanish like a wisp in the wind if ignored. Writing is a jealous and needy lover.”
“The Jealous Sun
The sunlight whispers in my ear, his breath a warm, sultry tease. I shrink and duck beneath a tree. My eyes squint to scan the horizon for a glimpse of the wind, but there are no ashen ribbons or golden waves in sight. He is missing.
Trickling, tinkling notes reflect loudly off a chandelier of glimmering droplets. The rain sings to me, and I shield my eyes, admiring the song. Far off in my western view I expect to see snow, but the sun grows hot with jealousy, knowing this. He refuses my snowman a place to set.
My sight drops to search for the man in the moon. Normally he rises dripping wet from out of the lake, often pale and naked, supple and soft to my caressing gaze. On rare occasions he dons a pumpkin robe as luminous as fire. Today he is draped in silks of the saddest blue. My heart weeps as he steals up and away.
An army of stars in shining armor come to my aid, and they force the sun into the ground—a temporary grave. I am fed with a billion bubbles of laughter until I feel I will burst. But the stars will not stop giving, and I will not stop taking.
A kiss brands my cheek, and I turn abruptly to find my snowman. He landed safely in the dark. We hide from the man in the moon behind a curtain of flurries to dance on polished rainbows and feast on stars until I hear a fire-red growl. The sun claws its way out of the soil, and everyone scatters.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“It's silly to think the left eye would envy the right or that one foot would be jealous of the other, and yet so often it is the case.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“Son, I hope your opinion of your mother hasn’t lessened, knowing what you now know.”
Gavin glanced up; incredulity skewed his eyebrows. His expression appeared both stunned and appalled. “Never, Father! I love her! It makes no difference to me where she came from.”
The man nodded, a show of relief in his features. His large hand, soft in touch, went to brush a string of hair away from his wife’s peaceful profile. “Your mother loves you too, son, more than anything in the world. She worries about you, day and night.”
That sentiment stirred something profoundly pleasant inside the boy. He grinned at the internal warmth it created.”
Source: Secrets of a Noble Keykeeper
“When I reach out, you take my hand.
When I smile, you mirror the expression.
When I triumph, you glory as if it were your own.
When I fail, you point to the light at the end.
When I need, you tenderly provide.
When I cry, you kiss away my tears.
When I suffer, you bleed.
And you wonder why I love you?”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“If only you would kiss me.
Press your lips to mine like a searing iron. Wrap me in your arms as if you were a monarch claiming a kingdom. Hold me close until I warm through to the core. Do this, and I promise to melt into you, no longer a cold and frozen figure in your narrowed sight. How devoted I would be if only your lips burned for mine!
If only you would kiss me.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“The actual secret to success: Be a better friend today than you were yesterday.”
Source: Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
“True love is a developed and intense appreciation for someone. It’s that perfect awareness that you are finally whole when she’s with you, and that hollow incompleteness you suffer when she’s gone.”
Source: Eena, The Return of a Queen
“Love is knowing someone so deeply, understanding her so completely, that you can finish her thoughts without hesitation, confident in reading her face, her body, even her slightest gesture means something to you.”
Source: Eena, The Return of a Queen
“Some days I feel like my worth is being reevaluated every five minutes.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“You can do things.
Do you know this?
Do you believe it?
You should.
It’s true.
You can do great things.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“To believe in yourself is to light a spark with the potential to start a fire.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Most are unaware of their tremendous worth and boundless potential, despite possessing both.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year
“Death. What a brief word for the extinguishing of life. To be no more. To have days cut off and at their end. To never again..........anything.”
Source: Secrets of a Noble Keykeeper
“Remembering our loved ones is breathing life into their fading images, that we might once more see their faces and pass along a tearful “I miss you.”
Source: Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year