Donna Lynn Hope

“The worst feeling when speaking with someone or receiving a gift from them is knowing they feel obligated to.”

“I don't admire the person who hides from the world and claims enlightenment. To be purified you have to be tested and there is no better test of strength than dealing with other people.”

“It's way too easy to see the real face of a person. They're amiable and full of pretense when they want something from you, but the minute you don't give in, back away or put yourself first (like they do) is the minute they show you who they really are.”

“Evil spawns mayhem while benevolence repairs; doing good comforts the living while prayers are extended to the one who attends to the dead.”

“Anyone can be polite to a stranger. Anyone can remain charming when spending time with an acquaintance, but what about those with whom we have familiarity? We hurt, offend and piss off the ones we love the most. Whenever we come home from playing nice and kissing ass instead of lips, we remove the masks and be who we really are.”

“People don't want words, as seductive, pleasant and warming as they can be. People want to see that they're worth some sacrifice or some great deed. And it's not that people are always worth it, it's that love is.”

“Emotions have cycles whereas love endures. Some people confuse emotions, which are ever-changing, with love's durability.”

“Emotions enthrall, but change, and as such have the ability to disrupt and destroy.”

“Love is such a force onto itself that it doesn't wreck havoc when it beats for others.”

“He passed through her with his soul caressing hers goodbye. And in that final hour he was with her one last time.”

“In our lives are special moments that live as their own, the rest is movement with the passage of time.”

“Don't concern yourself with the opinions of those who judge you. That is placing on them an importance they do not have.”

“The more candles on my cake means I get a little more exercise in blowing them out.”

“Regret is her companion and the one who whispers to her often. She has even let hope die and that brings about despair.”

“The only time she has anything resembling a life is when she sleeps because when she sleeps she can dream.”

“Do you keep silent to keep a friendship or do you try to lend your support unconditionally, even if what they are doing goes against everything you believe in? Will it be principles over friendship, morality over love?”

“Thank God for men who manage to hold from afar, wipe tears away with tender words and dish out the life force that is hope. She has never felt so alone but out there, across an ocean, and in a foreign land, there is a man who loves her and would lay down his life just so she could feel the light once again.”

“It will be a welcome change for her to feel his hands on her hips and his breath in her hair; She's been forlorn, but like all emotions, even loneliness doesn't last. She has fallen in love with the man with the quiet strength, the confident humility and the hands that show the flame of the heart.”

“So what if you're plain? Anyone can like a beautiful woman or a handsome man. That's easy. But power is the ability to inspire attraction without the obvious.”

“I smile when I want to cry. I laugh when I want to die.”

“I found that I missed him the more he was absent from my life, and the more I missed him, the more I loved him.”

“Neither one of them could turn off their feelings, even with so much time and distance between them. The more they were apart, and the more they weren't allowed to be together, the more they loved each other.”

“She didn't care about anything, or maybe she cared too much.”

“I think I figured out why I don't have more friends. I find dead people more interesting than the living.”

“If your partner means the world to you, then other people, including temptations and outside influences, shouldn't be living in it. Why invite trouble? There's enough to go around.”

“If you want to call attention to your good deed then it isn't a good deed, it's a self-serving one. Why? Not only have you patted yourself on the back but you're fishing for others to do the same.”

“Just because you talk about it or advocate for one position doesn't mean you care more. Just because someone doesn't talk about it and advocates a different position doesn't mean they care less.”

“I've seen you around. You liken yourself a bad ass, and darlin', you are. Minus the bad.”

“Instead of being proud that you led someone to God, be more concerned with the person you pushed away from Him.”

“You can not argue with stupid but you can certainly play with it.”

“People give up on each other long before they give up on themselves, and they do that, too.”

“I can only miss the true and I can only mourn the brave. Cowards make it easy to let go because you're not losing anything worth having.”

“You may wish to capture a wild thing as you covet their unbreakable spirit, but as much as you may wish to tame a wild thing, a wild thing, who may grow to love you, will always resist and will do anything, at any cost, even if it means hurting you, to break free. Be careful when playing with a wild thing.”

“People don't tell others when they lose interest, just like they don't tell others when they love them. And then they wonder why they are so unhappy.”

“She had hope in her heart but after a while, with each step forward, hope stepped back. And for the first time in months, the first time ever, she began to weep, and as she did she knew that with the retreat of hope her heart had finally caught up with her head. And as each tear spilled over she let them go, she was letting go.”

“Masks are elaborate and everyone has one. It takes a while to get to know people. This doesn't make them mysterious, it makes them like everyone else.”

“She was told it was magnetism that kept them engaged, and how do you separate magnets? You force them apart.”

“Love doesn't keep score," he challenged.I shrugged my shoulders. "But people do...”

“It's hard to part the curtains when the dark holds such familiarity.”

“Some people want it all and expect it all; always looking outward, so often proclaiming what they deserve, even more saying what they want, and all thinking another should provide it for them. Do they ever bother to be the person they think someone else would love to have?”

“No, we aren't civilized, even in our business suits and high heels. People are as mean as ever, and as predictable. Underneath it all, we are not so different from what lurks in the wild, perhaps we're worse.”

“Unless its done on purpose, crumbs and cleavage don't go together.”

“If its danger you seek, come on over. I covet tranquility but beget the tempest storm.”

“What an ambiance, and such a pity I'm alone: Candles giving off their glow, gusts of wind and the light tapping of rain on the windowpane - a massage for the mind. And a comforting one, too.”

“The spider's web: She finds an innocuous corner in which to spin her web. The longer the web takes, the more fabulous its construction. She has no need to chase. She sits quietly, her patience a consummate force; she waits for her prey to come to her on their own, and then she ensnares them, injects them with venom, rendering them unable to escape. Spiders – so needed and yet so misunderstood.”

“I have a deep appreciation for anything that challenges my morality. I tend to wonder which thing or person might overpower my beliefs and would I avoid it altogether in order to say, "It didn't conquer me," or would I accept the challenge head-on in an attempt to prevail? Which requires greater courage?”

“There was once a spirited feral mustang broken in by her stern rider. It was a harmonious relationship for the most part but, like any relationship, she tested the boundaries he placed on her and threw him...Would the rider, having suffered his own wound, retaliate, discipline or forgive?”

“A woman once held a Canary in the palm of her hand and stroked her and whispered a careful warning. The canary, seeking some freedom to fly, went into the mine while the woman watched in worry. The mine was filled with toxic gases and the Canary began to sing. She flew into danger, realized the threats around her, and wished to return to a place of refuge.”

“The black widow, who had dispatched a lover or two, was sought out for her wisdom. The young spider asked her, "Did you keep his harmful secret under the threat of danger, or did you spin a web so confusing that he didn't know if you were friend or foe? Did you release him from the web and your presence or will you give another the venom in which to finish him?" The black widow was quiet and then said, "All of the above.”

“Loyalty. Is it something only dogs know?When I think of it, I wonder if I would rather have it than love. Whereas love is often an over-used word and an unpredictable feeling, the other is nothing but dependability.”