Nicholas Sparks

“Comfort and familiarity were wonderful but they also dulled passion and excitement. Predictability and habit made surprises almost impossible.”

“People in pain don’t always see things as clearly as they should”

“The past can be escaped only by embracing something better.”

“That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered.”

“Silence is pure and holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking.”

“If a woman truly loves you, you can’t always expect her to tell the truth. You see, women are more attuned to feelings than men are, and if they’re not being truthful, more often than not it’s because they think the truth might hurt your feelings. But that doesn’t mean they don’t love you. If they do lie, it’s because they care.”

“That’s the thing about life, he knew. There was always a but.”

“Does trust have to be earned. Or is it simply a matter of faith?”

“Were all first loves like that? Somehow she doubted it; even now it struck her as being more real than anything she'd ever known. Sometimes it saddened her to think that she'd never experience that kind of feeling again, but then life had a way of stamping out that intensity of passion; she'd learned all too well that love wasn't always enough.”

“We get a lot of the sky is falling on the weather reports, so when something big does hit, people never expect it. If it's not as bad as the reports predicted, we complain. If it's worse than expected, we complain. If it's just as bad as predicted, we complain about that, too, because we'll say that the reports are wrong so often, there was no way to know they'd be right this time. It just gives people something to complain about.”

“I just tell people what they already know, but are afraid to admit to themselves.”

“The memories of the day played in his mind, but this time, his thoughts were of his daughter and the way she'd clung to Katie, her little face buried in Katie's neck.The last time he'd seen that, he reflected, was when Carly had been alive.”

“What? You don't think he's cute?""I didn't really notice.""How can you not notice when a guy is cute?" Melody stared at her in disbelief.”

“You found out who you are and what you want and then you realized that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.”

“is love at first sight truly possible ?”

“You need to learn patience, you grasshopper”

“Dawson, she knew, had saved Alan's life- but in the end, he'd saved Jared's as well. And for her that meant...everything. 'I gave you the best of me,' he'd told her once, and with every beat of her son's heart, she knew he'd done exactly that.”

“sometimes our future isdictated by what we are, as opposed to what we want.”

“She wasnt exactly sure when it happened. Or even when it started. All she knew for sure was that right here and now, she was falling hard and she could only pray that he was feeling the same way.”

“Deep in her heart, she wasn't sure she deserved to be happy, nor did she believe that she was worthy of someone who seemed...normal.”

“He was the kind of man everyone would fall in love with, even if they didn't want to.”

“most of all, I learned that it's possible for two people to fall in love all over again, even when there's been a lifetime of disappointment between them.”

“but it wasn't just about my feelings. The more I got to know you, the more I was certain that you'd do whatever it took to provide for your family. That was important to me. You have to understand that back then, a lot of people our age wanted to change the world. Even though it's a noble idea, I knew I wanted something more traditional. I wanted a family like my parents had, and I wanted to concentrate on my little corner of the world. I wanted someone who wanted to marry a wife and a mother, and someone who would respect my choice.”

“in all the years we spend together, I never once regretted the fact that I had chosen her and that she had chosen me as well.”

“Your love is like the wind...you cant see it, but you can feel it...”

“And maybe, just maybe, it will.”

“He was thirty-one now, not too old, but old enough to be lonely. He hadn't dated since he'd been back here, hadn't met anyone who remotely interested him. It was his own fault, he knew. There was something that kept a distance between him and any woman who started to get close, something he wasn't sure he could change even if he tried. And sometimes in the moments right before sleep came, he wondered if he was destined to be alone forever.”

“Henry nodded, thinking, 'If you were any more whipped, little brother, they'd serve you on ice cream.”

“Early on, he'd learned to enjoy simple things, things that couldn't be bought, and he had a hard time understanding people who felt otherwise.”

“Do trust have to be earned? Or is it simple a matter of faith?”

“Even his highly emotional Italian mother didn't believe that true love could blossom overnight. Like his brothers and sisters-in-law, she wanted nothing more for him than to marry and start a family, but if he showed up at her doorstep and said that he'd met someone two days ago and knew she was the one for him, his mother would smack him with a broom, curse in Italian, and drag him to church, sure that he had some serious sins that needed confessing.”

“I'd have to swing by the house first to change into something more comfortable.”“That's fine,” he said. “I'm all for you changing into something more comfortable.”“I'll bet you are,” she said knowingly.“Now, don't start getting fresh,” he said, feigning offense. “I don't think we know each other well enough for that.”

“When a person sets a thing in motion, there's a feeling of unease, almost regret, until you learn the truth.”

“He lived a wounded life”

“And it's funny because it was my grandpa who painted it shut (window) in the first place, and he had a whole storage shed full of just about every tool you could imagine. He was one of those guys who thought he could fix anything, but it never worked out quite as well as he planned. He was more of a visionary than a nuts -and bolts kind of guy.”

“When we first met, I didn't want to get involved with anyone. I didn't have the time or energy, and I wasn't sure that I was ready for it. But you were so good to me, and I got swept up in that. And little by little, I found myself falling in love with you.”

“I've come to believe that in everyone's life, there's one undeniable moment of change, a set of circumstances that suddenly alters everything.”

“Love doesn't mean anything if you're not willing to make a commitment, and you have to think not only about what you want, but about what he wants. Not just now, but in the future.”

“That's the thing about life. A lot of the time, it isn't easy at all. We just have to try to make the best of it.”

“They continued to watch each other from across the room, both frozen for a moment by the shadow of distant possibilities.”

“Every girl is beautiful. Sometimes it just takes the right guy to see it.”

“Then you came along and helped me believe in myself again.”

“I've come to understand that arguing with [my wife] about it has never solved anything. So instead of denying it, I've learned to take her hands, look her in the eyes, and respond with those three magic words every woman wants to hear:"You're right, sweetheart.”

“Not really. I suppose it depends on how you look at it. For me . . . well, it just adds a richness you wouldn't otherwise get. People come, people go—they'll drift in and out of your life, almost like characters in a favorite book. When you finally close the cover, the characters have told their story and you start up again with another book, complete with new characters and adventures. Then you find yourself focusing on the new ones, not the ones from the past.”

“That speaking the words, even if true, had little power to change the inevitable or even make him feel much better.”

“لا شيء يمكنه تغيير نمط الحياة أكثر من إنجاب طفل”

“I wanted more of her, & no matter what happened between us, I already knew I’d never forget anything about her. As crazy as it sounded, she was becoming part of me, & I was already dreading the fact that we wouldn’t be able to spend the day together tomorrow. Or the day after, or the day after that. Maybe, I told myself, we could beat the odds”

“Sometimes you have to be apart from people you love, but that doesn't make you love them any less. Sometimes you love them more.”

“In a lifetime of mistakes, you two are the greatest things that have ever happened to me.”

“As far as I can tell, dumping soda on people is the equivalent of ‘Hi, it’s nice to meet you’ in this part of the world. Frankly, I think standard greetings work better, but what do I know?”