Donna Lynn Hope

“Strangers were a fairytale full of possibilities not yet corrupted by reality while caregivers were the reality – and everything that couldn't be counted upon.”

“It's easy to be a saint when all you've known is the good.”

“We deny more than we confess. We hide more than we reveal. We assume because it makes us feel exposed if we have to ask. It's easier to say "I feel nothing" than to admit "I feel something." It takes no courage to say, "I hate you" but it takes a great deal of moxie to declare its opposite. Masks are elaborate and everyone has one. It takes a while to get to know people. This doesn't make them special, it makes them like everyone else. Sometimes our hearts scream yes while our heads say run; and only one can be obeyed.”

“She doesn't give directions but there is a pot of gold at the end of her rainbow...Find it. If you can.”

“While it is good to apologize and ask forgiveness from God, it’s just as important (perhaps more so) to extend it towards the person you wronged. Becoming a better person or trying to make amends with the universe only works when you start with the one you owe it to.”

“She had hope in her heart but after a while, with each step forward, hope stepped back. And for the first time in months, the first time ever, she began to weep, and as she did she knew that with the retreat of hope her heart had finally caught up with her head. And as each tear spilled over she let them go, she was letting go.”

“Who knows you more...your friend or your enemy? It's your enemy that pursues with passion while your friend engages at leisure.”

“If someone calls you a failure it's more than likely they feel like one.”

“Known for leaving, she asked me who I would consider sticking around for. I said, "The one who asked me to and meant it.”

“Don't focus on her hiss. Remember her purr.”

“One of the disadvantages to having a choice is the inevitability to hang oneself on freedoms rope.”

“Society nowadays tells people that their happiness is all that matters but happiness is never found if it costs someone else’s theirs. That is not what happiness is, nor would such a person deserve it, because happiness is forged by the setting aside of self and in doing for others to make them happy first and foremost, so if you have to hurt another human being to “find your happiness,” then you have no clue what the word actually means or what it’s willing to do, and in being so self-centered and entitled, it’s veritably tragic that the only care and concern you have is for yourself.”

“People like us are dead to society unless we’re pretentious, tell people what they want to hear, take off our clothes, or pretend to be like them.”

“Darling, if I take your breath away, I will give you mine.”

“I shall not be defined by what I have suffered but how I have endured them.”

“Emotions have cycles whereas love endures. Some people confuse emotions, which are ever-changing, with love's durability.”

“We love because we can lose. If there was no threat of separation, no death to shake us to our core, we probably wouldn't love much at all.”

“Fortuitous, unexpected beauty is the best beauty because it is unique, and what is unique is remembered.”

“A gem, like you, is made beautiful by being polished. It's not an easy undertaking, but a stone that exists undisturbed among others just is...but the most beautiful stand out because they face being alone, endure hardships and learn from what challenges them. Suffering purifies and makes beautiful, but only if the gem can shine.”

“Someone once said that love is the closest thing to magic that this world has, but magic enchants, deceives and casts a spell.”