“In fact, I prefer it to elation or joy. Relief lets the air out of the Tire of Pain.”

I don’t settle in any other area of my life when it comes to excellence, so why should I lower my standards when it comes to boys?

Those who want to know the facts, and those who want to make up a nice story to feel better.

I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile.

Maybe a first love exists to reaffirm the best parts of yourself, the choices you made when you didn’t worry about the consequences.

Ireland has never been more beautiful – the perfect setting for this story filled with humor, hope and possibility.

That’s when you know for sure somebody loves you.

If a man walks in beauty, he will create, and when he creates, he prospers.

A handwritten letter carries a lot of risk. It’s a one-sided conversation that reveals the truth of the writer.

Isn’t this the truth of any good mother? That in all of our lives.

The table is where the big decisions of the family are made and all the arguing takes place.

Love has a funny way of showing up when you aren’t looking for it and didn’t plan on it.

I’m writing novels because I found something I love because I tried it. Don’t be afraid to shake it up.

Energy has to be fed from a source. If you don’t feed the source, it dissipates entirely.

Don’t worry about bad things that haven’t happened yet. It will save you a lot of anxiety.

Looking back, now, I realize that you only ever need one person who lights up that way when you enter a room.

Furthermore, the writer is not there to see the reaction of the person he writes to, so there’s a great unknown to the process that requires a leap of faith.

Riches expose a man to pride and luxury, and a foolish elation of heart.

An athlete experiences the emotions of pain and elation through triumph and defeat, through teamwork and individuality, as nothing more than a human being…that is the true glory of sport.

It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought.

With its leaves so rich and heavy with elation and its crimson face made brighter with visions of divinity the shadow of a certain rose looks just like an angel eating light.