"There are those who fear the sunset, worried they will never see light again. There are those who ignore the sunrise, squandering dawn, believing they will never run out of daylight. And then there are those who have learned to live in the sun's warmth, gauging time by its positions, thankful at night that the day happened. Be aware of time. Use it wisely. Be thankful for the light allotted."

"Patience isn't simply waiting, it is caring enough about the situation and those involved to remain calm and courteous throughout the wait."

"Do it again. Play it again. Sing it again. Read it again. Write it again. Sketch it again. Rehearse it again. Run it again. Try it."

"Go put on your mask.Say 'trick-or-treat' in costume.It's All Hallows Eve."

"I'm a sucker for curiosity's whims.Does that make me a cat person?"

"I dreamed my shoulders held up the sky for a thousand hawks that squawked and cawed and beat their feathered wings against the hotness of the day. I supported their flight, watching and marveling, until sweat dripped from my body, and groans crossed my lips over fatiguing muscles. Choosing to let the sky fall, I awoke. My eyes opened to a cast of hawks gripping me in their talons. They supported my weight, hauling me high above the clouds through a blue expanse of heaven. And though they struggled-squawking and flapping wearily-never once did a single bird release its hold."

"Prayer: The act of falling to your knees in pleading fashion, seeking help from a greater power than all else to have failed you previously."

"Mother nature changes her looks for the same reason any woman changes her looks-to be noticed."

"Nothing remains idle and thrives. Life needs a moving force to prevent the devastating effects of stagnancy. That is why life employs change."

"I love you for a great many reasons and despite a great many others."

"A great father is one whose children look up to him rather than away from him."

"Gingerbread houseswith gumdrops and peppermintand marshmallow snow."

"There is love and then there is fluff. Nothing else."

"Only a fool believes that his actions don't shape the world."

"I love you" means I want you to be happy."

"The secret to style is a beautiful smile."

"It's a sweet thing to sit quietly in the early-morning darkness and talk to God for a while. It's amazing what you gain from the conversation."

"One way or another, I think we are all destined to learn the same lessons in life. Universal truths are universal truths. They cannot be changed."

"If you mess with dragons, you will get burned. Don't say no one warned you."

"Love is donating a chunk of your life to patch up holes in the life of another."

"Imagine fantasy and pretend as neither fantastical nor pretended.....and then believe it."

"Today is a BRAND NEW day-a perfectly good reason to get up and start over. Never give up."

"You may think you've hit rock bottom in your life but guess what-there's more crud underneath those rocks."

"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."

"I can and will improve the world.I will smile, show kindness, and be grateful.I refuse to be unhappy."

"Rare and precious moments, how I long to live with you eternally! If only your sweetness never ceased to touch my lips, and the flutters you evoke nevermore faded away. I dream of your arm extended immeasurably to keep hold of my reaching hand. But Father Time, being a cruel master, will not grant such a wish. And so I tuck you away as cherished memories, stored in a treasure box buried in my heart. And in times of solitude, I shall bring you out to view like rainbows."

"Though it pained me, I gave in. Why was it that I repeatedly succumbed to the first whisper of a promised maybe? How did the enticer, hope, always find my heart unguarded? There was no such thing as hope. Not for me. Why was it so hard to accept that?"

"Your tongue tends to say more about you when it blabs about other people."

"Happiness is a simple game of lost and found: Lose the things you take for granted, and you will feel great happiness once they are found."

"They tell me you're the best and the worst thing to have happened to me, but I do not see how it can be both. For if my death resulted from your presence, an everlasting sleep would have me dreaming happily of us together. I see no bad in that. Therefore, you must be the best thing to have ever happened to me because you make the worst seem wonderful."

"You would think those who have endured unkindness would be kinder as a result, intent on sparing others the awful suffering they abhorred firsthand."

"The wind is made of haunting souls that moan and groan in whistles and whispers. This ghostly choir chills the breeze and orchestrates a rise of goose bumps on my skin."

"Sometimes when I prepare to write, I feel the same sensation wash over me as if my toes were curling over the brink of a high cliff, my gaze peering downward into a dark pond, and I anxiously wonder, will the water prove deep enough? Will my words be satisfactory?"

"We never think lightly of those who walk with us on our uphill days."

"There are things that make no sense,that seem unreal,that can't be grasped or understoodor explained,that maybe don't even exist. And still, somehow, those wonderful things touch and change our lives.Isn't it strange?"

"A closed book will lie there like a dead horse. But an open book will kick, buck, and bolt through perceived adventures like a wild and free stallion. So hold on."

"Optimism: That effervescent, blindingly- bright, perky, chipper, twittering quality you want to squash out of annoying people."

"No matter how many lies you use to disguise it or how many excuses you bury it beneath, the truth will never cease to be true."

"Life is a puzzle, a riddle, a test, a mystery, a game-whatever challenge you wish to compare it to. Just remember, you're not the only participant; no one person holds all the answers, the pieces, or the cards. The trick to success in this life is to accumulate teammates and not opponents."

"If I were to sit on the ocean floor and look toward the sky,I might see a whale or electric eel or octopus pass by.And if I decided to jump straight up and reach with open arms,I might feel the pleasure of ocean flight propel me 'mid their swarms.But if I were seated upon the shore and looking toward the stars,I might see a comet or falling star near Mercury or Mars.Then if I decided to jump straight up and reach with open hands,I might feel despair when my feet refused to leave the shoreline sand.And so I return to the ocean depths where swimming creatures fly,For there I can soar with the whales and fish that daily touch the sky."

"Though I adore the idea of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and such luminary characters-especially their altruism and devotion-I still don't believe in them. For I know the truth. Only one such miracle worker exists who performs magic in my life, seeing to my wants and needs without fail. That queen is my mother. With unwavering faith I believe in her."

"A daily dose of daydreaming heals the heart, soothes the soul, and strengthens the imagination."

"The spirit of Christmas is a sweet, internal peace that testifies of the power of kindness and charity."

"No one stands at the beginning of a race and then finds himself at the end having never taken a step forward. And if that were to happen-the sweat and struggle avoided-what stories would he have to tell? The goal includes the journey, it's all part of the dream."

"Win or lose, good or bad, the experience will change you."

"It seems there is more interest in sunsets than sunrises. Perhaps because innately we fear the dark."

"If there weren't so many interesting conversations taking place inside my head, I might venture to speak out loud."

"People are drawn to you because you make them feel happy, I understand that. But wouldn't it be nice to have people flock to you wishing for your happiness?"

"Have you ever pondered the miracle of popcorn? It starts out as a tiny, little, compact kernel with magic trapped inside that when agitated, bursts to create something marvelously desirable. It's sort of like those tiny, little thoughts trapped inside an author's head that-in an excited explosion of words-suddenly become a captivating fairytale!"

"In a world plagued with commonplace tragedies, only one thing exists that truly has the power to save lives, and that is love."