Kiss a frog with your eyes wide open. If he turns into a prince you won’t miss the transformation, but if he doesn’t, you won’t be fooled by some wishful illusion in your head.

He scares everyone. That’s why you want to keep him as an ally, and not make him an enemy.

Love grows and wanes, but honor, duty, and commitment, those things are constant and stable. They define who you are.

There’s nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what’ll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor.

No one is without troubles, without personal hardships and genuine challenges. That fact may not be obvious because most people don’t advertise their woes and heartaches. But nobody, not even the purest heart, escapes life...

Determined, I riseand face the dawn with resolve.This time I will win.

Discouragement, fear, and depression—three villains who lurk in the dark.They slip inside souls with a blindfold and goals to shatter your dreams and extinguish your spark.Their tactics are highly effective.They crush a great many each...

I read so I might live a thousand lives in a lifetime. I write to control the particulars in those lives.

My Floating Sea””Pastel colors reflect in my opening eyes and draw my gaze to a horizon where the waters both begin and end. This early in the day I can easily stare without blinking. The...

Goals are my north star. My compass. The map that guides me along the road I wish to travel. Goals are motivations with wind in their sails—they carry me forward despite the storms.

I love you because you loved me first. Yet you love me, saying I loved you first. Funny, our love thrives believing the other person started it.

The trait I regard most highly in a man is kindness. Thoughtful, consistent kindness. All other qualities—whether charming, witty, handsome, enterprising, powerful, seductive, or ingenious—wither in comparison to a truly kind man.

I’m starting to think this world is just a place for us to learn that we need each other more than we want to admit.

Don’t lick your wounds unless you care to taste the sting a second time.

You’ll be hard-pressed to reach your goals if you don’t map out where you’re going. Take time to navigate your life.

A warm feeling fell over the boy. A mix of security and comfort, as if a blanket were wrapping its soft layers around his heart and nuzzling him snuggly. Gavin loved his mother, and he...

Life is a voyage across troubled waters where our days are often spent clinging to the top of the highest mast, scouting for a comforting glimpse of shore.

TodayToday is the day that good things come your way and then bad things to suck all the fun from your play.Today is the day that you stub every toe; blow your nose on a...

It’s advice, not a commandment.Don’t swallow it whole until you’re absolutely sure you’ve been given good, healthy advice.

True greatness demands humility; the journey draws it from your struggling soul.

The most common lie uttered without thought, sincerity, resolve, or guilt: I love you.

The truth is that few know the truth.

Your tongue tends to say more about you when it blabs about other people.

Do the small stuff. A consistent little will earn you a lot.

Face it; life’s gonna chew you up and spit you out. If you’re lucky you’ll get stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe and be carried far, far away from it all.

Life may dawdle along in minutes but don’t be deceived, for it will sprint by in years before you even notice.

Sometimes writers (poets) expect me to think far deeper than I’m willing to dig.

Do I Love You”I stand in the night and stare up at a lone star, wondering what love means. You whisper your desire—do I love you? I dare say yes. But my eyes drift back...

People love super heroes. It’s true we’re impressed by their bravery and fortitude, their supernatural gifts and physical brawn. But the fact is, villains possess these same qualities. So why our admiration for the hero...

No, you will listen. For once, you’re going to hear something that doesn’t fit into your neat, compartmentalized world of order and logic and reason. Because this isn’t reasonable. If you’re terrified, believe me—this scares...

Happiness must be a jealous pet. When you try seeking yours out, it tends to keep hidden. But as soon as you turn to help a friend find his, your own happiness comes bounding out...

The things that inspire your life should consume your life.

Sometimes while gazing at the night’s sky, I imagine stars looking down making wishes on the brightest of us.

Every person sees the world through lenses of his or her own design—individual goggles that alter focus and perspective as desired. For those who wish the world to be dark and ugly and unapproachable, it...

Don’t ever quit pretending.

Without you there would be no me. I am everything reflected in your eyes. I am everything approved by your smile. I am everything born of your guidance. I am me only because of you.

Okay, let’s put this another way―if what you’re about to say wouldn’t look good permanently engraved on your tombstone, bite your tongue.

Sometimes giving up feels like the easiest thing to do. But then the easiest thing has never produced more than a garden full of weeds.

I’ll always want to be your friend, Annabelle. Do you want to be mine?”My head nodded like mad, ecstatic, all on its own. I disappeared among the shadows again and watched my new friend until...

I don’t believe that the course of anyone’s lifetime has ever been as unerring as that of the rising and setting sun, but I know many lives that have been just as inspiring.

Trying to change old habits is like fighting a war in your head—a draining and exhausting skirmish that makes you wonder at your chance of survival.

The greatest gift you can give is your time. Not money, not items, not food, not pretty cards with handwritten sentiment, but time. People need your presence. The way you can help a soul the...

Love is many kind acts accumulated over time that leave us feeling wonderful.

For the real writers, every decision is either write or wrong.

Before you take that first curious, coerced, spiteful, or vengeful step forward, remember this: it’s a thousand times easier to slip into a muddy pit than it is to climb out of one.

When you delete impossible from your thinking, you give yourself permission to imagine, to believe, to try, and to accomplish phenomenal things.

Gratitude paints little smiley faces on everything it touches.

Mothers were meant to love us unconditionally, to understand our moments of stupidity, to reprimand us for lame excuses while yet acknowledging our point of view, to weep over our pain and failures as well...

It is to our own detriment that we underestimate the might of small and simple things.

It’s mind-boggling how many different worlds people live in on this one planet.