Nicholas Sparks

“It was late afternoon and the last remnants of the day were fading. The sky was slowly changing color, and as I watched the sun go down I remember thinking about that brief, flickering moment when day suddenly turns into night. Dusk, I realized, is just an illusion, because the sun is either above the horizon or below it. And that means that day and night are linked in a way that few things are; there cannot be one without the other, yet they cannot exist at the same time. How would it feel, I remember wondering, to always be together, yet forever apart? I know the answer now. I know what it's like to be day and night now; always together, forever apart.”

“I'm not saying it because I'm sweet. I'm saying it because I love you now and I always have. More than you can imagine.”

“I know. You could never hid anything. Your eyes always gave you away. You had the most wonderful eyes I'd ever seen." She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked discretely at him. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. "I think I loved you more that summer than I ever loved anyone.”

“It took strength to hold on to inner passion, and Noah had done that.”

“I know it can't be the same between us, but that doesn't change the way I felt about you then.”

“A pause. Then she said: "Tell me, Noah, what do you remember most from the summer we spent together?""All of it.""Anything in particular?""No," he said."You don't remember?"He answered quietly. "No, it's not that. It's not what you're thinking. I was serious when I said 'all of it.' I can remember every moment we were together, and in each or them there was something wonderful. I can't pick any one time that meant more than any other.The entire summer was perfect, the kind of summer everyone should have. How could I pick one moment over another?"Poets often describe love as an emotion that we can't control, one that overwhelms logic and common sense. That's what it was like for me. I didn't plan on falling in love with you, and I doubt if you planned on falling in love with me. But once we met, it was clear that neither of use could control what was happening to us. We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created. For me, love like that has happened only 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."Allie stare at him. No one had ever said anything lik that to her before. Ever. She didn't know what to say and stayed silent, her face hot.”

“She couldn't think of anyone else who remotely resembled him. He was complicated, almost contradictory in so many ways, yet simple, a strangely erotic combination. On the surface he was a country boy, home from war, and he probably saw himself in those terms. Yet there was so much more to him. Perhaps it was the poetry that made him different, or perhaps it was the values his father had instilled in him, growing up. Either way, he seemed to savor life more fully than others appeared to, and that was what had first attracted her to him.”

“He took a few steps before responding. "You are special," he finally said, and the way e said it made her wonder if he wanted to add something else.”

“And some time after midnight on that clear October evening, Noah was overcome with longing. And if anyone had seen him, they would have seen what looked like an old man, someone who'd aged a lifetime in just a couple of hours. Someone bent over in his rocker with his face in his hands and tears in his eyes.He didn't know how to stop them.”

“The stars were out in full, the crickets a little quieter. He had enjoyed talking to Allie and wondered what she'd thought about his life, hoping it would somehow make a difference, if it could.”

“The sky grew darker and the moon rose higher as the evening wore on. and without either or them being conscious of it, they began to regain the intimacy, the bond of familiarity, they had once shared.”

“She turned to face him. She reached over and touched his hand, hesitantly, gently, amazed that after all these years had somehow known exactly what she'd needed to hear. When their eyes locked, she once again realized how special he was.And just for a fleeting moment, a tiny wisp of time that hung in the air like fireflies in summer skies, she wondered if she was in love with him again.”

“And while he was doing those things, he thought about Allie and the love that was missing from both their lives.”

“No, I mean with us. Do you think we would have made it?"It took a moment for her to answer. "I don't know, Noah. I really don't, and you don't either. We're not the same people we were then.We've changed. Both of us."She paused. He didn't respond, and in the silence she looked towards the creek. She went on. "But yes, Noah, I think we would have. At least, I'd like to think we would have.”

“You were the best friend I ever had, Allie. I'd still like to be friends, even if you are engaged, and even if it is just for a couple of days.”

“And here it will end, one way or the other," she whispered again”

“I gave you the best of me.”

“Watching you walk out of my life does not make me bitter or cynical about love. But rather makes me realize that if I wanted so much to be with the wrong person, how beautiful it will be when the right person comes along.”

“If you weren't going to tell me, why did you bring me down here? So I could watch you die?""No, sweetie. Just the opposite." He rolled his head to face her. "I asked you to come so I could watch you live.”

“there were moments in life when violence was necessary to save lives”

“if you put your trust in God, you’ll be all right in the end.”

“If Mark’s words had once made him angry, Martha’s words left him stunned. He started to try to talk her out of it, but Martha gently cut him off. “Will you really miss me?” she said. “We hardly know each other anymore.” “I can change,” he said. Martha smiled. “I know you can. And you should. But you should do it because you want to, not because you think I want you to.”

“acceptance helps people move on with the rest of their lives”

“You think you know me, but I'm not sure that even I know who I am anymore.”

“That was the dirty secret associated with her past. Not that she'd been abused but that somehow she felt that she deserved it because she'd let it happen. Even now, it shamed her, and there were times when she felt hideously ugly, as though the scars that had been left behind were visible to everyone.”

“Siempre hay un momento, justo antes de empezar a leer, en el que el corazón me da un vuelco y me pregunto: «Sera hoy?». No lo se, de hecho nunca lo se de antemano, aunque en el fondo eso tampoco importa. Es la posibilidad lo que me mantiene con esperanza, no la garantía; es como una apuesta que me hago a mi mismo. Y a pesar de que quizás alguien me llame loco o soñador, creo que en la vida todo es posible.”

“Marriage is a partnership, not a democracy.”

“No buts," he said, "because there are none. You see yourself as someone who couldn't get away. I see the courageous woman who escaped. You see yourself as someone who should be ashamed or guilty because she let it happen. I see a kind, beautiful woman who should feel proud because she stopped it from happening ever again. Not many women have the strength to do what you did..”

“Her father was dying, and he wanted her forgiveness.”

“Katie was reminded again that love can sometimes achieve the impossible.”

“Don't think there are no second chances.Life always offers you a SECOND CHANCE...It's called TOMORROW”

“You’ve been giving me the full-court press since you got here, and we know what’ll happen if I let you through that door. But you’re leaving. And when you do, I’ll be the one who’s hurt afterward. So why start something you have no intention of finishing?”- Lexie”

“I know you may not believe it, but the last thing I want to do is hurt you or do anything that would make you regret that we’ve met.”- Jeremy”

“This is my story; I promise to leave nothing out.First you will smile, and then you will cry - don't say you haven't been warned.”

“She laughed, and the sound was so melodic that I knew I wanted to hear it again.”

“And although this is the way all stories unfold, I still can't believe that ours didn't go on forever.”

“If hers are the stars in the nighttime sky, mine are the haunted empty spaces in between.”

“I don't know if spirits do indeed roam the world, but even if they do, I will sense your presence everywhere. When I listen to the ocean, it will be your whispers; when I see a dazzling sunset, it will be your image in the sky.”

“Sometimes my grief is overwhelming, and even though I understand that we will never see each other again, there is a part of me that wants to hold on to you forever.”

“As I write, I am struggling with the ghost of someone I loved and lost. I now understand more fully the difficulties you were going through, and I realize how painful it must have been for you to move on.”

“And if you think that you're showing your love to Catherine by suffering the way you've been doing, then somewhere along the way, I must have messed up in raising you.""You didn't mess up....""I must have. Because when I look at you, I see myself, and to be honest, I'd rather see someone different. I'd like to see someone who learned that it's okay to go on, that it's okay to find someone that can make you happy. But right now, it's like I'm looking in the mirror and seeing myself twenty years ago.”

“They're beautiful. How did you know I loved roses?""I didn't, but I've never heard of a woman who didn't, so I took a chance."She smiled. "So you send lots of women roses?""Millions. I have a lot of fans. Dive instructors are almost like movie stars, you know.""They are, huh?""You mean you didn't know? And here I thought you were just another groupie.”

“The way he spoke about Catherine made Theresa hurt for him more than she would have imagined. It wasn't just his voice, but the look on his face before he described her - as if torn between the beauty of his memories and the pain of remembering.”

“Theresa, remember - you've got nothing to lose. The worst that could possibly happen is that you fly home in a couple of days. That's all. You're not going on a quest to search for a tribe of cannibals. You're just going to find out if your curiosity was warranted.”

“But now, alone in my house, I have come to realize that destiny can hurt a person as much as it can bless him, and I find myself wondering why--out of all the people in all the world I could have ever loved--I had to fall in love with someone who was taken away from me.”

“I think of you, I dream of you, I conjure you up when I need you most. This is all I can do, but to me it isn't enough. It will never be enough, this I know; yet what else is there for me to do? If you were here, you would tell me, but I have been cheated of even that. You always knew the proper words to ease the pain I felt. You always knew how to make me feel good inside.”

“To her, none of those friendships seemed the way they used to, but then of course they weren't. Things changed, people changed, and the world went rolling along right outside the window.”

“In another place, in another time, she would have felt the majesty of the beauty around her, but as she stood on the beach, she realized that she didn't feel anything at all. In a way, she felt as if she weren't really here, as if the whole thing was nothing but a dream.”

“there are people who added goodness to the world and people who lived to destroy it.”

“Noah: Would you just stay with me?Allie: Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we're already fightin'Noah: Well that's what we do, we fight... You tell me when I am being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you are a pain in the ass. Which you are, 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a 2 second rebound rate, then you're back doing the next pain-in-the-ass thing.Allie: So what?Noah: So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What's it look like? If it's with him, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again. If I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.”