“I read once that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision that something is more important than that fear.”

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision that something is more important than fear.”

“I nodded, pretending to be a hundred times more courageous than I felt.But that was the thing about courage. Sometimes you had to fake it to feel it.”

“Sometimes the heart tells us to venture where the mind fears to tread.”

“If I live in fear of what might be, how can I truly live my life to the full in the present? And if I do not give myself to the day, to hope, to life, what do I miss?”

“I think the trick to living fully,” I said, thinking through each word, “is to appreciate what we have, day byday, regardless of what we know might come our way.” I took a breath and slowly looked from one of myparents to the other. “If I live in fear of what might be, how can I truly live my life to the full in the present? Andif I do not give myself to the day, to hope, to life, what do I miss?” I raised my eyebrows and shook my head.“Life itself, I think. At least the way I wanna live it.”

“We are well," Hugh said, looking me over with more intensity than seemed proper. "And you?""I'm well, thank you," I said, lying through my teeth. I'd been better the day I took to my bed with measles.”