Which of us has not felt that the character we are reading in the printed page is more real than the person standing beside us?

People universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you are fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it…

Each of us has the right & the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead,
& those over which we have travelled, & if the future road looms ominous or unpromising,
& the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve,
carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction.
If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment,
we must be ready to change that as well.

But love wasn’t about sacrifice, and it wasn’t about falling short of someone’s expectations. By definition, love made you better than good enough; it redefined perfection to include your traits, instead of excluding them.

There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility.

Serious relationships are not something anyone should really be actively looking for because sometimes, the best relationships happen only by accident. i was beginning to see, though, that the unknown wasn’t always the greatest thing to fear. the people who know you best can be riskier, the words they say and the things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well.

Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.

I love books, by the way, way more than movies. Movies tell you what to think. A good book lets you choose a few thoughts for yourself. Movies show you the pink house. A good book tells you there’s a pink house and lets you paint some of the finishing touches, maybe choose the roof style, park your own car out front. My imagination has always topped anything a movie could come up with.