"Sorrow on another's face often looks like coldness, bitterness, resentment, unfriendliness, apathy, disdain, or disinterest when it is in truth purely sadness."

"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."

"What you perceive as a failure today may actually be a crucial step towards the success you seek. Never give up."

"It's a phenomenal experience jumping from the devious mind of a sorceress bent on conquering the world to the compassionate musing of a queen capable of healing life with a touch-all in a flicker of thought. That's why I love writing."

"One day a week I seek to rest from earthly toil and sorrow.Revitalized, I find the strength to battle new tomorrows."

"What if stars were the glimmering tears of a giant, welling in his cheeks, waiting to fall at the first tender stroke of emotion? What if the moon were a wide-open eye gazing down on our tiny, little world and its tiny, little inhabitants as they rush to and fro in pursuit of tiny, little dreams? What if the sun were the glowing heart of a great beast, pumping hot blood to keep him alive while providing warmth for our pitiful world? Ahhh, imagination; it is a wondrous thing!"

"Marriage is a million piece puzzle, a pristine and exciting pursuit at the beginning that gradually becomes a daunting task, usually more challenging than anticipated. It is only those truly committed to solving that puzzle who witness in the end the miraculous outcome of every tiny piece laid out and pressed together in an inspiring and envious creation-a treasure only time, resoluteness, and perseverance could create."

"A real treasure becomes such only after it's been desperately sought after."

"When kindhearted people smile, demons shrink and turn away as if tormented by the gesture. But when those beautiful smiles are made to fade, every awful creature in the world stands surer. So do yourself and mankind a favor and smile BIG whether you feel like it or not."

"When a child truly understands his grand potential, he looks to the stars not simply to make a wish but to chart a destination."

"You cannot fully understand a person's need until you have endured the same need. As hard as you may try to predict and comprehend their situation and suffering, I guarantee you'll fall short until you've been there."

"Sadness is the heart withdrawing to seek shelter from the pain."

"If you plan to build walls around me, know this-I will walk through them."

"The denial of assistance is sometimes the greatest assistance. The trick is recognizing when this is the case."

"The glory of fame isn't in having so many people know you, but in having so many people know you care. Otherwise, it's like being drawn to a fire to find no warmth."

"Daydream. Because you can't accomplish what you've never fully imagined."

"Happiness, thou art naught but an illusion. Thy enchantments are cast upon my eyes, my mind, my spellbound heart. Dependent upon nothing but thy victim's perception of thee, souls soar at thy artful hand! I have fallen in love with thy illusions, Happiness. Thou hast made me a part of them, and I am left delirious."

"Laugh and smile for no reason at all. Giggle grins are a magnet for happiness."

"It isn't so much life's problems that challenge us but the emotional turbulence stirred up while trying to deal with them. People possessing the gift of emotional detachment are lucky in that their personal problems seem far less problematic."

"Don't laugh. A girl can dream."

"Small steps may appear unimpressive, but don't be deceived. They are the means by which perspectives are subtly altered, mountains are gradually scaled, and lives are drastically changed."

"He was everything I needed because his entire character had been molded by my deepest wants and desires. He was my rock when I cried, my playmate when I laughed, and my hero when I needed to imagine that one existed for me."

"Don't underestimate the power of friendship. Those bonds are tight stitches that close up the holes you might otherwise fall through."

"Goals are my north star. My compass. The map that guides me along the road I wish to travel. Goals are motivations with wind in their sails-they carry me forward despite the storms."

"Have you ever noticed how the most intriguing individual in the room seems content to listen sooner than speak?"

"When you tend to another's dying embers, you find both warmth and an increase in the glow of your own fire."

"If I could have one friend,just one in all the world,I know that I would not seek outa boy or pretty girl.The friend I'd dare to chooseto stand by me each daywould be a dragon fierce enoughto scare the world away."

"The whispers you hear in your ear that you fear in the air everywhere,they are ghosts.The moans and the groans in the lowest of tones no one owns or condones, they are ghosts.You might deem them gremlins or water or wind,while others say shadows or rodents or sin.But oh! I say no! 'Tis not so, child, for lo!The chills that you feel in a thrill that proves goose bumps are frightfully real,they are ghosts!"

"Annoyances are strangely not so annoying when the person responsible has endeared himself to you."

"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."

"I see the good in the world because I choose to. I don't imagine that it's there, it's there waiting to be noticed."

"Be loved for who you are, for everything that constitutes you. Be loved for your core beliefs, your strengths and weaknesses, your admirable traits and troublesome baggage. Be loved for you, because anything less is not love at all."

"I hate it when storm clouds roll in, heralded by dazzling claps of thunder and lightning that boast an ocean of tears. This majestic performance of bad temper manages to overshadow my pathetic attempts at pouting. No one broods like Mother Nature, hence she steals all the attention I was sulking after."

"Life is a walk through the forest. Don't fear the trees, fear what lurks behind them."

"Was mutual need enough to risk trusting a calculated enemy in hopes of destroying a more powerful one?"

"Friends are those crazy people who keep coming back, in spite of being exposed to the real you."

"Our greatest duty to our children is to love them first. Secondly, it is to teach them. Not to frighten, force, or intimidate our children into submission, but to effectively teach them so that they have the knowledge and tools to govern themselves."

"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."

"We always feel the brunt of the blow dealt to us, but hardly ever do we feel the impact we have on others. Why is that?"

"Snowflakes fall from high.Flurries lift and twirl below.The world has turned white."

"Sunshine warms us, as do smiles-which makes me think that smiles are sunbeams reflected off our teeth."

"Pray each morning and each night.Talk to God and be polite.Tell Him what you're grateful for.Leave your troubles at His door.Share your wishes, needs, and hopes.Ask God how to bravely cope.Tell Him all you learned today.Say the things you need to say.Beg forgiveness for your sins.Pray to live with Him again.Speak with earnest heart and soul.He will listen. This I know.For prayer is hope put to the test.And hope is faith in what is best.Faith is power to do great things.Thus, prayer is faith's enabling wings."

"The further you descend into a pit, the darker things appear. You can't keep digging to find the light."

"Seemingly insignificant choices are like seemingly trivial seeds. Once planted, they root and grow and spread into something tremendous. Imagine the prickly weeds some choices amount to over time and be careful not to plant them."

"Happiness depends upon two things-pleasing God, and then pleasing yourself."

"Sometimes all you can do is hug a friend tightly and wish that their pain could be transferred by touch to your own emotional hard drive."

"Even the smallest tender mercy can bring peace when recognized and appreciated."

"Every person sees the world through lenses of his or her own design-individual goggles that alter focus and perspective as desired. For those who wish the world to be dark and ugly and unapproachable, it is. But for those who wish it to be beautiful, it is a garden playground blooming with bright, happy colors."

"How easy it is to slip.How hard it is to climb.How wise it is to keep in stepAnd never fall behind."

"Some days I feel like my worth is being reevaluated every five minutes."