Lisa Mangum

“Gotta keep moving; can't stop; stagnation kills.”

“What do you want, Zo?""What does anyone want, Abby?" he countered. "To be loved. Peace on earth. The winning lottery numbers.”

“Then think of this as an adventure." I kissed hi cheek. "So which flower should I be?" He curled me close to his chest, nuzzling his face into my hair. "Mmmm, can't you be all of them? My own bouquet of beauty? Like daisies opening their friendly petals." He brushed his fingertips over my eyelids. "Or marigolds that burn like the summer sun." He rubbed his hands over my back. "Or orchids-rare and exotic." He traced a finger across my collarbone down to rest lightly on the locket I wore all the time. "Roses for passion." He kissed me.”

“The world is full of impossibilities - some beautiful, some terrible - but sometimes, when you least expect it, they can become possible.”

“You were all given the same chance. This day was your test. The monk who dropped the scale did so at my request. I was watching to see what you would do. I need someone who can wait with patience, and yet know when it is time to act without fear. Someone who is able to see patterns even when none may be obvious. Someone who can also express his own artistic viewpoint...I want someone who will leave the world a more beautiful place than he found it.”

“In the darkness of night,Demons strut, taunting, goading.In the light of day,Angels sing glorious songs.In the time in between,We live our lives alone and searching.And sometimes, softly,You understand damnation.All is forgotten, all is lost,All but forgivenessAnd the memory of her kiss.”

“Do you trust me?""Yes""Then don't look back”

“Your future is your own again. And I consider that to be a happy ending to the story.”

“The whole point of wishing is not to focus on what you don't have it's to show you what could be. Once you know what you want then you know what to reach for what to dream about. It's how you change things.”

“Once you identify what you lack then it's all you see anymore. Wanting something I couldn't have would only lead to unhappiness so I tried to be content with what I had.”

“We can't live our lives obsessing about the past or mourning the future. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to live every moment of our lives the best we can.”

“You can always choose to change your future.”

“Pawns are really queens in disguise.”

“Be grateful for what I have now and keep working toward what I want to happen in the future.”

“The river is now. This moment. This breath between us. The space between your heartbeats. The moment before you blink. The instant a thought flashes through your mind. It is everything that is around us. Life. Energy. Flowing, endlessly flowing, carrying you from then...to now...to tomorrow. Listen: you can hear the music of it. Of the passage of time.”

“She was a woman who knew who she was and how she had gotten there.”

“People think edges are bad, but they are really there to keep up from falling to pieces. They don't hold us back, they hold us in. They hold us together.”

“Maybe it was because I didn't want to look at my life and see what is missing. Once you identify what you lack, then it's all you see anymore. Wanting something I couldn't have would only lead to unhappiness, so I tried to be content with what I had.”

“It's time, my childrenWhen the waves rise high When the waters run deepWhen the clock strikes midnightYou'll feel the mark of Zero HourAnd you'll never be the same again”

“Somehow difficulties are easier to endure when you know your dream is waiting for you at the end.”

“I'm not who you think I am, Abby," he said in English.I almost smiled. It was the kind of melodramatic line people said in bad made-for-TV movies, but then I saw his eyes, bleak and distant, and I knew he was telling the truth."I thought you were Dante Alexander, foreign-exchange student visiting from Italy."He shook his head slowly, sadly. "Not exactly.”

“Be sure of your heart before you speak.”