Joan Bauer
My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid.Collection: Stupid
...Difficult relationships come into our lives for a reason. No one would choose them, certainly. But if we let them, they can teach us how to be flexible with others and more forgiving.Collection: Forgiving
I'll tell you something about tough times. They just about kill you, but if you decide to keep working at them, you'll find your way through.Collection: Tough Times
You've got to love yourself with all your short comings, and you've got to love the world no matter how bad it gets.Collection: Love Yourself
When you have something so important, something that you'll stay awake for, something you know that you were designed to do, well, it's worth getting a few dark circles, don't you think?Collection: Dark
We read to learn and to grow, to laugh, to be motivated, and to understand things we've never been exposed to. We read for strength to help us when we feel broken, discouraged or afraid. We read to find hope. We read because we're not just made up of skin and bones, and a deep need for chocolate, but we're also made up of words, words which describe our thoughts and what's hidden in our hearts.Collection: Heart
Like my grandmother always said, 'you never know the blessings that come from suffering.Collection: Grandmother
Sometimes you've got to shout the truth and wake people up.Collection: People
Words are such powerful things. We can rip somebody apart with them, we can write words down that can forever hurt another person. We can use them to tell stories and lies. We can misquote them and change what other people said to make ourselves look good.Collection: Hurt
A heart will say amazing things if it's given half a chance.Collection: Heart
Almost. It’s a big word for me. I feel it everywhere. Almost home. Almost happy. Almost changed. Almost, but not quite. Not yet. Soon, maybe. I’m hoping hard for that.Collection: Home
Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a person is to have a puppy lick your face.Collection: Faces
when hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possibleCollection: Kind
You don't know which way a thing will come at you, but you need to welcome it with your whole heart which ever way it arrives.Collection: Heart
When we don't have the words chocolate can speak volumes.Collection: Chocolate
You don't understand how much light you have until the lights go out.Collection: Light
...It isn't the problems along the way that make us or break us. It's how we learn to stand and face them that makes the difference.Collection: Differences
When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian.Collection: Reading
Mountains draw you to a deeper place in yourselfCollection: Mountain
Staring down hard truth takes guts.Collection: Staring
And we learned that you don't have to be famous or rich or physically healthy to be a leader. You just have to try to be a true person. We learned that helping other people brings out the good in everybody.Collection: Helping Others
Librarians understand about power - they know how to find anything.Collection: Librarian
I hope you'll have the kind of life where what you stand for is so important that it makes some people outright hostile. You won't know how strong your beliefs really are until you have to defend them.Collection: Strong
The problem with the heart is how it can have so many opposite feelings coursing through it all at the same time. It's really an inconsistent thing- appreciating something one minute and hating it the next.Collection: Hate
You know where we got stuck? We were looking for faithfull, loving and perfect relationships-males who were always glad to see us." "So?" "We already have that!" "What do you mean?" "We've got dogs!Collection: Dog
it's a complete rush to get what you've been hoping for - to get it so full and complete that it fills your senses.Collection: Senses
Teenagers are like bees at night, I think. We don't like waking up and we don't always get with the program immediately, but once we figure out our mission, we'll see it through.Collection: Teenager
Mom put dense cheddar bread into a bag for a man who said this was his wife's favorite - he'd driven all the way from New Jersey to buy it because today was their anniversary. Several women in the store jabbed their husbands on hearing this. I hung my head - Peter Terris wouldn't cross the street to buy me a Twinkie.Collection: Mom
"You could lie to me. You could tell me to be encouraged, that good will triumph over evil.""Good will triumph over evil," said Richard. "Liar."Collection: Liars
If you worry about every little thing you're going to have one thoroughly miserable life.Collection: Worry
If she's really psychic," Zack said when he saw Tanisha's photo at school, "why does she need a doorbell?Collection: School
Everyone needs fudge, Hildy. It's how God helps us cope.Collection: Needs
Will we have bodyguards?" "We're not quite set up for that. But with all these mothers, you don't need them.Collection: Mother
Some things go too deep for words.Collection: Too Deep
Toys "R" Us. Zack put on a wool cap and sunglasses. "You look like a bank robber," I observed. "No toy is safe.Collection: Wool
i hate leaving places i love i was never at one place long. am i selfish?Collection: Hate
Guys don't understand great art. They don't care that sometimes the camera has power beyond the photographer to record emotion that only the heart can see. They're threatened when the camera jumps ahead of me. Todd Kovich was pissed when I brought my Nikon to the prom, but I'd missed too many transcendent shots over the years to ever take a chance of missing one again. A prom, I told him, had a boundless supply of photogenic bozos who could be counted on to do something base.Collection: Art
Sometimes just getting up in the morning and standing at the gate can bring the gate down.Collection: Morning
My father always told me that in this world we are going to make a truckload of mistakes, but the best mistake we can ever make is to err on the side of mercyCollection: Mistake
It was February sixth: eight days until Valentine's Day. I was dateless, as usual, deep in the vice grip of unrequited love. It was bad enough not having a boyfriend for New Year's Eve. Now I had to cope with Valentine datelessness, feeling consummate social pressure from every retailer in America who stuck hearts and cupids in their windows by January second to rub it in.Collection: New Year
Everything's got a purpose, really - you just have to look for it. Cats are good at keeping old dogs alive. Loss helps you reach for gain. Death helps you celebrate life. War helps you work for peace. A flood makes you glad you're still standing. And a tall boy can stop the wind so a candle of hope can burn bright.Collection: Dog
...motherhood should be like driving a car -- you should have to pass a test before you can do it legally.Collection: Motherhood
Infatuation cannot be sustained indefinitely, my friend. Love that embraces the entire person is a monumental gift that takes time to grow.Collection: Infatuation
I had taken the photograph from afar (distance being the basic glitch in our relationship), using my Nikon and zoom lens while hiding behind a fake marble pillar. I was hiding because if he knew I'd been secretly photographing him for all these months he would think I was immature, neurotic and obsessive. I'm not. I'm an artist. Artists are always misunderstood.(Thwonk)Collection: Distance
I've never said this to a girl before." I bit my lip, waiting. "Well..." He looked down. "I'm not sure how to say this." He took a deep breath and announced, "I really like fighting evil with you.Collection: Girl
New places always help us look at life differentlyCollection: Looks
It takes a great cook to pull life truth from poultry.Collection: Poultry
Mom has the Touch. She knows what flowers go with what occasions, what hors d'oeuvres work with what people. She believes passionately in the power of food to heal, restore, and stimulate relationships, and she has built a following of loyal customers who really hope she's right. If she's wrong, says Sonia, no one wants to know. (Thwonk)Collection: Mom
People are so cheap. Everyone wants quality, no one wants to pay for it. Here's the suburban dream-- to hire great workers who are such meek morons that they don't have the guts to ask for a living wage.Collection: Dream