From Across the Ancient Water by Michael Phillips

Creation reveals itself in secrets, but as secrets that are outer cloaks of truths waiting to be discovered. pg 152 "It is humility that leads us home. It is that same humility that leads us to reconciliation in our lives. Humility, my friends. The humility to say to one we have wronged, to one who has wronged us, to one with whom misunderstandings have separated us for whatever reason...to say, 'I no longer want to be disconnected. I do not want to be apart from this one whom I once loved.' In humility I am ready to say, "I will arise and go to my brother...my sister...my mother...my daughter...my father...my son.' I will say, 'With all my heart I desire again to be in a relationship with you. I am sorry to have failed in loving you, but I will try to love you again.' "The humility to acknowledge, 'I do not want to be separated on day more. I will arise and go.' "Humility, my friends. Humility to recognize that life is not what we had hoped. Humility to recognize that life is full of mistakes, that we have made our own share of them. Humility to apologize. humility to arise and go to the one we have hurt. Humility to go to one who has hurt us. "Humility is the doorway, my friends. It is the door to all healings, the door that leads to our brethren, the door that leads to our sons and daughters and mothers and fathers and our friends...the door that leads to the heart of God." pg 174 & 175 "My father says that God makes His will in our lives known by the subtle inner nudges in response to our prayers, and He confirms that leading by circumstance. He says that the Lord uses circumstances to confirm his leading, even occasionally to change the direction of his leading. As long as we're not in a hurry and willing to wait, the two always line up at some point--the direction of the leading and the circumstances that make it possible to follow that leading. When the two line up, you can be confident that God might indeed be indicating a certain direction. "Might be. That doesn't sound very definite.' "You never know 100 percent. There's a certain amount of guesswork involved in following the Lord's leading. My father says that our own desires can interfere and make us think God is leading when we are really just following what we want to do ourselves. It is also easy to misinterpret circumstances and think they're saying something they're not. That's why the most important thing in listening to God's voice is to set aside your own desire and ambitions. And then be willing to go slow in making decisions. That's another thing my father says, that God is never in a hurry." pg 396

Brisingr Christopher Paolini

"Love can be a terrible curse, Eragon. It can make you overlook even the largest flaws in a person's behavior." pg 617


"The first time we visited Tronjheim, the fortuneteller Angela told me that it was Brom's wyrd to fail at everything he attempted, except for killing Morzan."

Oromis inclined his head. "One might think that. Another might conclude that Brom achieved many great and diifficult things. It depends upon how you choose to view the world. The words of fortunetellers are rarely easy to decipher. It has been my experience that their predictions are never conducive to peace of mind. If you wish to be happy, Eragon, think not of what is to come nor of that which you have no control over but rather of the now and of that which you are able to change." pg 618

Eldest Christopher Paolini

"Therefore...I will go to her, I will apologize, and I will reassure her that I never intend to cause her such hardship again." It was difficult for him to say, but once he did, he felt a sense of relief, as if acknowledging his mistake cleansed him of it. page 389

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

"Do not worry about these things. Find peace in where and what you are. People often know what must be done. All you need do is show them the way--that is wisdom." pg 429

The Next Thing On My List by Jill Smolinski

"He so resembled his sister. It stirred up what I'd tried to stuff deep inside-the shame I wore that was as ugly as if I still had the shiner. I feared if I said too much, he'd be able to see what I'd been able to hide from others for months. That I might look okay on the outside, but inside I was still tender and purple and swollen." pg 9

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt- by Beth Hoffman

pg 111

"...I wondered if I'd ever be so lucky to have a girlfriend I'd grow old with, a girlfriend who knew my secrets, my fears, my hopes--and loved me anyway. A purple-velvet-sofa kind of girlfriend."

pg 16

"Books became my life, or maybe I should say books became the way I escaped from my life. Every day I studied my homework lessons until I knew them inside and out. And, in a strange, upside down way, Momma's craziness helped me and rise to the top of my class. For every dish, saucer, or glass she threw against the wall, I'd add a book to my reading list. And every time she cried, I'd read an entire column of words in the dictionary. By the time I was eleven years old I'd read a whole lot of books and knew a ton of words.

When the girls in my class raced home after school to play board games or make themselves up with their mothers' cosmetics, I turned and walked in the opposite direction. Down shade-dappled sidewalks I'd go until I reached the Willoughby Public Library. I was happy sitting alone on the cool floor between the tall wooden shelves, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't long for a living, breathing girlfriend to talk with. Laugh with. Just be with. Every day I ached to hear my footsteps walk in rhythm with those of another girl. When that ache got to be too much, I tried to pretend I didn't need anybody--including a mother."

pg 49

"Dear Cecelia,

I'm sorry for everything that has happened. But I know you'll be happy in Savannah.

Love Dad

Nineteen words. I counted them. That's all he had to say to me. Nineteen meaningless little words.

And that's when my father died to me--right there in the driveway. I was, as of that very moment, an orphan. Both my parents were dead, and if I was to be honest with myself, they'd been dead for a long time. It just took me awhile to figure it out."

pg 191

"Since moving to Savannah, I'd become more awake to nature--to the sounds, smells, and sights of the world around me. I was constantly surprised by the things that waited to be discovered beyond the pages of the books I'd always kept in front of my nose. Even the moon looked rounder and fatter than I'd ever remembered, and as it pushed higher into the sky, it lit the surface of Miz Hobbs's swimming pool into a shimmering skin of silver."

pg 241

"I burrowed deeper under the blanket, and as the rain beat against the window and thunder rolled over the house, I closed my eyes, let go, and fell into the depths of my sadness. And as I fell, I accepted the truth I had fought for so long--I missed my mother."

pg 238

"I think while your mother was alive you held tight to the hope that one day you'd wake up and she'd be healthy--behave like a real mother. Then you'd be able to live your life the way children are supposed to. But that day never came. Oh, honey, you've been very brave." She pressed her palm to my cheek and tilted her head. "But even the bravest among us can't hold that much hurt inside. I believe you're not only hurting but you're grieving too. Not only for the mother you had but for the mother and the childhood you didn't."

pg181

"When Miz Obee thought nobody was looking she'd sneak a marble off the board and drop it down the front of her dress. After a while, she had more marbles in her dress than we had on the board. Sapphire knew full well what Miz Obee was doing, but she always looked at her friend with tenderness in her eyes and pretended not to notice. As I watched this silent exchange between Sapphire and Miz Obee, it occurred to me that that's what friends should do: cherish the good and pretend not to notice the harmless rest."

Big Stone Gap

Big Stone Gap- by Adriana Trigiani

pg 182

"Sooner or later everybody has to ask the big questions of themselves. Some of us ignore the truth, and some of us gut the interior of our lives and attempt to reinvent it. I am doing the latter."