The Noel Diary Quotes

“I've always believed that we don't choose the life we want, we choose the life we think we deserve. We self-sabotage as a way to punish ourselves." "Why would we punish ourselves? Doesn't the world punish us enough?" "Why wouldn't we? We live in a world that is always making us work for love. It's cause and effect.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“holding on to anger is like swallowing poison and hoping someone else will die.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“We chain ourselves to those we don't forgive.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“The only true love is grace. All else is a counterfeit.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Their life is a lie. I would rather live an honest life than an admired lie.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“We live in a world that’s always making us work for love. It’s cause and effect. That’s the story of my childhood. If I can be good enough, maybe my mother will love me.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Yes, she’s fine. She’s rereading one of your books. There’s not many authors she likes, so if there’s nothing new, she just rereads yours. The funny thing is, she forgets how they end, so she enjoys it just as much as the first time. I swear the woman could plan her own surprise party.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“I believe that, for the most part, we don’t succeed in spite of our hardships but precisely because of them.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Know that I will never forget you. And I will never stop loving you. I’ll visit you in your dreams.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“And the happily ever after?”
“There has to be a happily ever after,” she said. “There’s always a happily ever after when the girl finds her true love.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“You always had trouble coloring inside the lines.”
“Some things never change,” I said.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Her eyes softened with a childlike vulnerability.
“Do you love me?” The question had more power than she could have known. My heart throbbed in my chest. I looked into her eyes.
“Yes.”
“I love you too. I love you more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
Then she leaned into me and we kissed.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Are you ready?” she asked.
“No. Are you?”
“Nope. Let’s go.” I smiled. I loved this woman’s spirit.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“I was beginning to feel like I was avoiding something, which, no doubt, I was. I’m a savant at finding distractions when something’s uncomfortable.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“I think that at least half the things I do are done out of inertia. Maybe that’s true for everyone.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“That’s the way we live our lives. We speed on, happily or not, in the same direction until we collide into something that alters our destination. Sometimes that collision hurts, sometimes it doesn’t, but if we’re lucky, love is that unbalanced force. Love. There is no greater force in the universe. Now if we’ll only learn to stop getting out of its way.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“We chain ourselves to those we don’t forgive.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“resents everyone he tried so hard to get to love him. He has to. Because even that little boy knows that love can’t be earned. The only true love is grace. All else is a counterfeit. “So let me answer your question, Jacob. Why weren’t you lovable? The answer is something you know but haven’t had the courage to believe. You see, it’s possible to know things and not believe them. The true answer is this: you were lovable. You were a darling, bright-eyed little boy who brightened everyone’s lives. Even your mother’s. You were immensely lovable. You always were and you always will be. And it was that very love you had that made you so vulnerable.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“It’s like they say, holding on to anger is like swallowing poison and hoping someone else will die.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Love yourself. Respect yourself. And have faith. The older I get, the more I see that things tend to work out. Not always, but usually. Just not in our time.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“You darling, sweet man. I’m so sorry for your pain. I wish I could have taken it from you. But you’ve carried it long enough. You need to let it go.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Because even that little boy knows that love can’t be earned. The only true love is grace. All else is a counterfeit.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“My parents haven’t reached out to me once. They’re religious but not godly.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Their life is a lie. I would rather live an honest life than an admired”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“We live in a world that’s always making us work for love. It’s cause and effect. That’s the story of my childhood. If I can be good enough, maybe my mother will love me. “The problem is, somewhere along the way you figure out that you can’t ever be good enough. It finally just got to be too much for me. You hit this point where you just want to scream, ‘Love me for who I am or get out of my life.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“We live in a world that’s always making us work for love.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“It’s because the very core of their identity is called into question. Whether they’re guilty or not makes almost no difference. That’s just the way we’re wired.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary

“Writing always came naturally to me. It was like speaking, but easier. Actually, a lot easier.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Noel Diary