“Lincoln told a family friend that his father taught him to work, but never learned him to love it.”

“Literature offered a safe circumscribed outlet for sadness.”

“God produced great writing, a matter of first importance to a man like Lincoln, ever impressed with the nature of cause and forces.”

“A storyteller, a displaced poet, will absorb reading differently.”

“Young, healthy communities can afford to roll the dice.”

“The towering genius is not apolitical.”

“When the world shifts its focus on heart over mind, we will finally experience a beautiful global village for our children.”

“Women scheme when they are weak, they lie out of fear. Men scheme when they are strong, they lie out of arrogance.”

“Sometimes it's not always straightforward, but it's not always confusing either. You just have to respect a person's decisions without disrespecting them.”

“Lucian's father had warned him to fear idle men. Without the pride gained from a good day's work, they were left to their vices and the doubts that crowded their head. Their hatred. Their envy.”

“She was wearing her fuzzy pink hat and she was happy, which was so obnoxious. She'd become one of those people who waltzed through life without so much as a split end, and I was still one of those ...”

“We may be just a drop in the ocean, but even the ocean envies the depth of our love.”