"You always get weirdos like Edward who seem to attract women for some reason. If Edward wasn’t a fictional character and you met him in reality he is like one of those guys who would probably be an axe murderer or something."
— Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga)

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"You're going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it's always their actions you should judge them by. It's actions, not words, that matter."
— Nicholas Sparks

"You are, and always have been, my dream."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created. For me, love like that has only happened once, and that's why every minute we spent together has been seared in my memory. I'll never forget a single moment of it."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"Passion is passion. It's the excitement between the tedious spaces, and it doesn't matter where it's directed...It can be coins or sports or politics or horses or music or faith...the saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

"And I learned what is obvious to a child. That life is simply a collection of little lives, each lived one day at a time. That each day should be spent finding beauty in flowers and poetry and talking to animals. That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered. But most of all, I learned that life is about sitting on benches next to ancient creeks with my hand on her knee and sometimes, on good days, for falling in love."
— Nicholas Sparks

"I don't know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change."
— Nicholas Sparks

"And when her lips met mine, I knew that I could live to be a hundred and visit every country in the world, but nothing would ever compare to that single moment when I first kissed the girl of my dreams and knew that my love would last forever."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

"You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"The ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together..."
— Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle)

"We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"Yes... it wasn't over, it still isn't over."
— Nicholas Sparks

"There are moments when mental overload can render words impossible."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Choice)

"Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy. Remember that."
— Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle)

"'I don't want to lose you.' His voice almost a whisper. Seeing his haggard expression, she took his hand and squeezed it, then reluctantly let it go. She could feel the tears again, and she fought them back. 'But you don't want to keep me, either, do you?' To that, he had no response."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Rescue)

"True love is rare, and it's the only thing that gives life real meaning."
— Nicholas Sparks (Message in a bottle)

"When you're struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it's just as hard as what you're going through."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

"There are winds of destiny that blow when we least expect them. Sometimes they gust with the fury of a hurricane, sometimes they barely fan one’s cheek. But the winds cannot be denied, bringing as they often do a future that is impossible to ignore."
— Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle)

""A living poem" had always been the words that came to mind when he tried to describe her to others."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"And when her lips meet mine, I feel a strange tingling I have never felt before…and suddenly a miracle…and I discover a forgotten paradise, unchanged all this time, ageless like the stars. I feel the warmth of her body, and…I allow myself to slip away. I close my eyes and become a mighty ship in churning waters, strong and fearless, and she is my sails."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"That initial anger she had felt turned to sadness, and now it had become something else, almost a dullness of sorts. Even though she was constantly in motion, it seemed as if nothing special ever happened to her anymore. Each day seemed exactly like the last, and she had trouble differentiating among them."
— Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle)

"It is life, I think, to watch the water. A man can learn so many things."
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"It's possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief . . . lessens. It may not go away completely, but after a while it's not so overwhelming."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

""You really love her don't you," she said.
"With all my heart."
She looked as sad as I'd ever seen her.
"What's your heart telling you to do?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe", she said gently,"You're trying to hard to hear it.""
— Nicholas Sparks

"Part of me aches at the thought of her being so close yet so untouchable, but her story and mine are different now. It wasn't easy for me to accept this simple truth, because there was a time when our stories were the same, but that was six years and two lifetimes ago."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

"And for the briefest instant, it almost feels like we're together again."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

"I've been burdened by questions I've asked myself a thousand times since the last time we were together.
Why did I do it? And would I do it again?
It was I, you see, who ended it."
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

"I don't pray because it doesn't work. Prayer doesn't fix anything. Bad things happen anyway."
— Nicholas Sparks (Three Weeks with My Brother)

"I love you. I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I've ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, everyday we are together is the greatest day of my life. I will always be yours. "
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"Dreams are always crushing when they don't come true. But it's the simple dreams that are often the most painful because they seem so personal, so reasonable, so attainable. You're always close enough to touch, but never quite close enough to hold and it's enough to break your heart."
— Nicholas Sparks (Three Weeks with My Brother)

"Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life. Work's important, family's important, but without excitement, you have nothing. You're cheating yourself if you refuse to enjoy what's coming."
— Nicholas Sparks (Three Weeks with My Brother)

"The greater the love, the greater the tragedy when it's over."
— Nicholas Sparks (Nights in Rodanthe)

"the reason it hurts so much to seperate is because our souls are connected"
— Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook)

"People who claim they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us. It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of. "
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"The body apologizes to the soul for its errors, and the soul asks forgiveness for squatting in the body without invitation."
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her~is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?"
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"Happy endings are still endings."
— Gregory Maguire (Son of a Witch: A Novel)

"As long as people are going to call you lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention."
— Gregory Maguire

"The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say."
— Gregory Maguire (Mirror Mirror)

"Memory is a part of the present. It builds us up inside; it knits our bones to our muscles and keeps our hearts pumping. It is memory that reminds our bodies to work, and memory that reminds our spirits to work to: it keeps us who we are.~Candle"
— Gregory Maguire (Son of a Witch: A Novel)

"That was such a wonderful time, even in its strangeness and sadness-and life isn't the same now. It's wonderful, but it isn't the same."
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"Maybe the definition of home is the place where you are never forgiven. So you may always belong there, bound by guilt. And maybe the cost of belonging is worth it."
— Gregory Maguire

"It's the only condition I know. Bitter Love, Loneliness, contempt for corruption, blind hope. It's where I live. A permanent state of bereavement. This is nothing new."
— Gregory Maguire (Son of a Witch: A Novel)

"And girls need cold anger. They need the cold simmer, the ceaseless grudge, the talent to avoid forgiveness, the side stepping of compromise. They need to know when they say something that they will never back down,ever, ever. "
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"Not everyone is born a witch or a saint. Not everyone is born talented, or crooked, or blessed; some are born definite in no particular at all. We are a fountain of shimmering contradictions, most of us. Beautiful in the concept, if we're lucky, but frequently tedious or regrettable as we flesh ourselves out."
— Gregory Maguire (Son of a Witch: A Novel)

"Yet who can say how our souls have been stamped by witnessing such a cruel drama? All souls are hostages to their human envelopes, but souls must decay and suffer at such indignity, don't you agree? "
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"The answer of course, is that the clock isn't meant to measure earthly time, but the time of the soul. Redemption and condemnation time. For the soul, each instant is always a minute short of judgment. "
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"He lingered at the door, and said, 'The Lion wants courage, the Tin Man a heart, and the Scarecrow brains. Dorothy wants to go home. What do you want?'...
She couldn't say forgiveness, not to Liir. She started to say 'a soldier,' to make fun of his mooning affections over the guys in uniform. But realizing even as she said it that he would be hurt, she caught herself halfway, and in the end what came out of her mouth surprised them both.
She said, 'A soul-'
He blinked at her."
— Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West)

"It's the endlessly thinking about yourself that causes such heart shame."
— Gregory Maguire (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister)