“From when she was a baby, Tom has taught the girl to respect, but not fear, the forces of nature- the lightning that might strike the light tower on Janus, the oceans that batter the island.”

“Scars are just another kind of memory.”

“Your family's never in your past. You carry it around with you everywhere.”

“We can't rightly ever talk about the future, if you think about it. We can only talk about what we imagine or wish for. It's not the same thing.”

“If the war had taught her anything, it was to take nothing for granted: that it wasnt safe to put off what mattered. Life could snatch away the things you treasured, and there was no getting them b...”

“Life, thought Septimus, ... you could never trust the bastard. What it gives with one hand, it takes away with the other.”

“Life only wants us to be happy. We impose these burdens on ourselves.”

“...people with nothing to declare carry the most.”

“Burdens of life become lighter when your heart is filled with love and we learn to forgive and forget with profound kindness.”

“Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.”

“Even the juncture in history and the zeitgeist we live in is something we choose, setting the scene for the spiritual fodder we need to grow and achieve deeper elevation of our souls.”

“Choose your love. Love your choice.”

“every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.”

“I've never heard anyone say "I wish I hadn't forgiven.”

“We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck. But part of it has got to be forgiveness an...”