"Loyalty. Is it something only dogs know?When I think of it, I wonder if I would rather have it than love. Whereas love is often an over-used word and an unpredictable feeling, the other is nothing but dependability."

"Society nowadays tells people that their happiness is all that matters but happiness is never found if it costs someone else's theirs. That is not what happiness is, nor would such a person deserve it, because happiness is forged by the setting aside of self and in doing for others to make them happy first and foremost, so if you have to hurt another human being to "find your happiness, then you have no clue what the word actually means or what it's willing to do, and in being so self-centered and entitled, it's veritably tragic that the only care and concern you have is for yourself."

"Be careful how you live. Someone is always watching and will look to you as an example, an excuse, or a warning. The message some choices send is why struggle to do the right thing when you can do the wrong thing and be happy. Should we be happy or should we be right?"

"Only strong women, and they seem to be rare, can handle a frank and direct woman who doesn't sweet-talk or need others to nerve her. You can identify the easily intimidated because they need a gaggle of like-minded clones to back them up when they feign offense, which is merely a guise for their insecurity."

"You see it everywhere and everyone seems to be doing it but you. You could have had it as well, and you know it, and that's what bothers you. Your worst enemy is yourself, and sadly, you know that what you did wasn't worth what you lost."

"She walked in somber seclusion, unable to connect with women despite her heart's desire to do so while being shadowed by men who hungered for the indefinable; and while she yearned for friendship, they yearned for something more and what she had been in search of remained removed from her, and the more she erected barriers, the more they crossed them and each time they did, she turned from them and hid."

"How did I learn empathy? I learned it while suffering. How did I learn about karma? Because it came back to me and I deserved it. I now know when any hurt I experience is due to circumstances outside of my control, karma, or self-imposed consequences for foolish choices. I do feel justice is served if karma humbles someone who needs it, and as anyone who has been wronged can attest, what they seem to want most is for the offending party to experience how it feels and to know in that moment exactly what they did to someone else and to be filled with remorse and hopefully, repentance."

"She's not ashamed of loving, although those she's loved are few in number; it was/is sweet and true. She's only ashamed she used love as an excuse."

"Many want to be a warrior but they don't know what a lonely, tough, or pain staking journey it is. Warriors have to fight on behalf of the defenseless, defend what is right, as well as fight believers and non-believers alike. In reality, few like warriors because they confront their own, and their own think they're above being confronted. The warrior, you see, most often walks alone."

"I'd rather meander through a pit of vipers than love one more person, but since I'm on the subject of snakes, we all know one, or are one."

"I didn't sleep well last night because one of my ghosts came back, haunting with his presence, and when I woke up, the others weren't here, haunting with their memory."

"Hatred may keep a body warm, but it takes a lot to keep the fire stoked, so unless a person is extraordinary in some way, some people are not worth hating, just like they're not worth loving."

"Power, a paycheck and control do sick things to those who have the illusion of possessing it."

"Nocturnal with a love for night, I'd stay up to see sunlight..."

"It's effortless to let go of self-absorbed people. It's challenging to let go of someone you care about and it's exceedingly difficult to let go of an ideal and a belief in someone because what exacerbates the disappointment of finding out they weren't who they presented themselves to be, is the betrayal of it."

"I write for ghosts, the ghosts I can't see but I know stick around. Some I know are good. Others I know are bad. The first bring me nostalgic comfort while the latter instill unease."

"Steam rising underneath a canopy of whispering, changing aspens; starlight in the clear, dark night, and wondrous beauty in every direction. If only all could feel this way, to be so captured and enthralled with autumn."

"You will know who the enemy is intimidated by because they're the ones he targets and keeps beating down."

"The only time she has anything resembling a life is when she sleeps because when she sleeps she can dream."

"I'm thinking of the protector who wants to be protected and a fighter who loves the right battle but will lay down her arms to go on a quest."

"I don't admire the person who hides from the world and claims enlightenment. To be purified you have to be tested and there is no better test of strength than dealing with other people."

"Life is for the loved, not the lonely." She lamented. "Although it's the lonely who try to make the world and its inhabitants less so."

"We know what we should do. Age is no excuse. Do we go to others for permission or for discipline?"

"Why weren't we born in the same era?" he lamented. She eased past him neither here nor there, looked over her shoulder and whispered, "How mundane and cliche would that be?"

"We love because we can lose. If there was no threat of separation, no death to shake us to our core, we probably wouldn't love much at all."

"His ghost comes back to be remembered. If he can't be in this life, he procures a way to stay in orbit, and in that way, is never forgotten."

"Do we really need a study on why people lie? They lie because it's easy, and cowards are good at "easy." Telling the truth takes moxie, and few have it."

"One of the disadvantages to having a choice is the inevitability to hang oneself on freedoms rope."

"So what if you're plain? Anyone can like a beautiful woman or a handsome man. That's easy. But power is the ability to inspire attraction without the obvious."

"My fear is that he'll forget me," she bemoaned with crystalline sadness. I took her hand, limp with loss and held it. "I'd rather not be remembered by any man as it saves me the embarrassment."

"If there had once been a chance and there had once been love, then it will still be there in spite of time and obstacles. If you can get past that, you can get past a lot."

"The more candles on my cake means I get a little more exercise in blowing them out."

"You wonder why he loves her, she's so unlike any other, but any man can love an ordinary woman. They're everywhere and whereas he's had other women love him before, they were women who loved a lot, and such love is fickle, never setting anyone apart.Attaining the love of someone known not to love is an honor and the highest level of love there is, because it's rare, and real."

"Shoo. Away with you. It's my fault for expecting the extraordinary from the ordinary."

"Known for leaving, she asked me who I would consider sticking around for. I said, "The one who asked me to and meant it."

"Soul mates may be linked, but fight to separate, causing wounds and confusion. They teach what no one else can."

"While it is good to apologize and ask forgiveness from God, it's just as important (perhaps more so) to extend it towards the person you wronged. Becoming a better person or trying to make amends with the universe only works when you start with the one you owe it to."

"Dark hair on a white pillow, an ache inside, his face a reflection in her eye."

"Regret is her companion and the one who whispers to her often. She has even let hope die and that brings about despair."

"If I never shed a tear or wondered what happened to someone I actually loved, what makes you believe I'd think twice about you, someone I never even cared for?"

"The writer in her went silent and hid when her revealing words were wide-spread read."

"Can I be trusted? Can you? I can be trusted with some things, but not all things, just like you."

"I'd love to have the kind of friend who would visit me before visiting a man. Otherwise I know where I'm ranked, which is below him."

"I love men. I also hate men; I wouldn't want to be in a world without them but I have to say, it's not a compliment to know a man wants to sleep with you. It's only a compliment when he will go to great lengths for you."

"Connecting with someone is not necessarily a bond with a significant other, or even a friend, but can be the indefinable - perhaps the rarest and most precious thing in life to find at all."

"Is it me you're describing, or yourself?"

"Envy, as distasteful as it is, has seeped into my mind on rare occasions, and those I've envied, although few in number, have only been those that live a life of leisure with peace of mind and time to do such wonderful things as read."

"You're not interesting in the least," she spat. "I don't need to be," I smiled. "That's what you need...And you're welcome to it."

"In a fit of anger he had said to her, "You'll always be miserable," to which she thoughtfully replied, "Is that so? It's impossible to be miserable when you've known tragedy and hardship. Both strengthen and refine a person to the point where they may have moments of grief and sadness, but misery is known only to those who have a sense of entitlement...you know, people like you."

"It's hard to part the curtains when the dark holds such familiarity."