Nicholas Sparks

Long-term relationships--the ones that matter--are all about weathering the peaks and valleys.

Without suffering, there'd be no compassion.

My mom used to tell me that whatever you do, marry someone who loves you more than you love him.

It is at moments like these that I know my what my purpose is in life. I am here to love you, to hold you in my arms, to protect you. I am here to learn from you and to receive your love in return.I am here because there is no other place to be.

A truth emerges in any long marriage, and the truth is this: Our spouses sometimes know us better than we even know ourselves.

So, it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? Thirty years from now, forty years from now? What's it look like? If it's with him- go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again, if I thought that's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.

I mean, if the relationship can't survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?

Jamie: You're acting like a crazy person, what's going on?
Landon: Right now, you're straddling the state line.
Jamie: OK...
Landon: You're in two places at once.

It's hard at times, but it makes a kid strong in ways that most people can't understand. Teaches them that even though people are left behind, new ones will inevitable take their place; that every place has something good - and bad - to offer. It makes a kid grow up fast.

Being in love, I find myself smiling for no reason at all...

It was a life, she eventually concluded, that had been lived in the middle ground, where contentment and love were found in the smallest details of people's lives. It was a life of dignity and honor, not without sorrows yet fulfilling in a way that few experiences ever were. She knew Tuck understood that more than anyone.

It's impossible to protect your kids against disappointment in life.

That he would love her no matter what she told him, and that he was the kind of man who loved her already and would love her forever.

That initial anger she had felt turned to sadness, and now it had become something else, almost a dullness of sorts. Even though she was constantly in motion, it seemed as if nothing special ever happened to her anymore. Each day seemed exactly like the last, and she had trouble differentiating among them.

...she would fall in love with me again, just like she had a long time ago. And that's the most wonderful feeling in the world. How many people are ever given that chance? To have someone you love fall in love with you over and over?