#na

We talk of strong personalities, and they are strong, until the not-every-day when we see them as we might see one woman alone in a desert, and know that all the strength we thought we knew was only courage, only her lone song echoing among the stones; and then at last when we have understood this and made up our minds to hear the song and admire its courage and its sweetness, we wait for the next note and it does not come. The last word, with its pure tone, echoes and fades and is gone, and we realize—only then—that we do not know what it was, that we have been too intent on the melody to hear even one word. We go then to find the singer, thinking she will be standing where we last saw her. There are only bones and sand and a few faded rags. ↗

— Gene Wolfe

#courage

I have never left you. And I never told you you couldn't go outside. Take your children and go outside and play and shop. Resume your life. What are you afraid of? ↗

— Kim De Blecourt

#international-adoption #orphans #until-we-all-come-home #courage

Everybody wants to be on the mountaintop, but if you'll remember, mountaintops are rocky and cold. There is no growth on the top of a mountain. Sure, the view is great, but what's a view for? A view just gives us a glimpse of our next destination-our next target. But to hit that target, we must come off the mountain, go through the valley, and begin to climb the next slope. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life's next peak. ↗

— Andy Andrews

#wisdom #inspirational

...sometimes we have to find the courage to take off our shoes and feel it all. Even the bad stuff. ↗

— Denise Hunter

#inspirational #romance #courage

I feel the fear, but I walk fast toward it. ↗

— Markus Zusak

#courage #fear #i-am-the-messenger #inspirational #life

I fully recognize and appreciate the many substantial contributions of black Americans and other minorities to the creation and preservation and development of our great nation. ↗

— Strom Thurmond

#black #black americans #contributions #creation #development

But some things did not change... Courage, for instance. Dedication to a cause. Comradeship. When they were strong and pure, when they came from deep in the bone, those qualities could hold fast against all odds. ↗

— Juliet Marillier

#courage #dedication #inspirational #change

If you can reach down deep inside and grab on to the hope and courage we all have installed in us to move forward down the roads of life...it will help you grow stronger each day overcoming all despair. ↗

— Timothy Pina

#courage

I nod, thinking of how difficult marriage can be, how much effort is required to sustain a feeling between two people - a feeling that you can't imagine will ever fade in the beginning when everything comes so easily. I think of how each person in a marriage owes it to the other to find individual happiness, even in a shared life. That is the only real way to grow together, instead of apart. ↗

— Emily Giffin

#imagination

I don't understand dating.. and the other things that people do.. all I know is that you ought to find the one you recognize. The one who gives you four arms, four legs, four eyes, and has the other half of your heart. There's only one of those, so what are all the other things for? Like dating? ↗

— C. JoyBell C.

#inspirational #inspirational-love #inspirational-quotes #life #living