“Often people that settle in life are those that only do what they can with what they have and where they are. Never settle for someone that didn’t know your worth from the beginning, or build a life without God in it. Live beyond your low expectations.”

“What’s agitating about solitude is the inner voice telling you that you should be mated to somebody, that solitude is a mistake. The inner voice doesn’t care about who you find. It just keeps pestering you, tormenting you–if you happen to be me–with homecoming queens first, then girls next door, and finally anybody who might be pleased to see you now and then at the dinner table and in bed on occasion. You look up from reading the newspaper and realize that no one loves you, and no one burns for you.”

“He would have liked spending a little time with one of the girls himself. Instead, he had to settle for sleeping in a room with a bunch of guys. It was a total sausage fest, he thought.”

“Whenever you create anything, you take a risk. And that includes your life. It may work out, it may not. It may be well received, it may not be. . . . It’s always a risk to take action. It might not work, it might blow up in your face, you might lose money, you might fail. No one may get it. But that’s not the only risk. There’s another risk: the risk of not trying it. How is not trying a risk? You risk settling and continuing in the same direction in the same way, wondering about other paths and possibilities, believing that this is as good as it gets while discontent gnaws away at your soul.”

“You may marry Miss Grey for her fifteen pounds but you will always be my Willoughby. My nightmare. My sorrow. My past. My mistake. My regret. My love.”

“Gratitude was never meant to be an excuse for giving up on the obstacles God has put before you. Some of the most magical things he can bring us require faith and a lot of planning.”

“This is what I know. Don’t settle for 40, 50, or even 80 percent. A relationship-it shouldn’t be too small or too tight or even a little scratchy. It shouldn’t take up space in your closet out of guilty conscience or convenience or a moment of desire. Do you hear me? It shold be perfect for you. It should be lasting. Wait. wait for 100 percent.”

“If you don’t know what you want, you’ll never find it.If you don’t know what you deserve, you’ll always settle for less.You will wander aimlessly, uncomfortably numb in your comfort zone, wondering how life has ended up here.Life starts now, live, love, laugh and let your light shine!”

“Sometimes it takes a heartbreak to shake us awake & help us see we are worth so much more than we’re settling for.”