It was actually a women's writing group I belonged to in graduate school that gave me the courage to move from poetry to fiction.

It's really a sad story, and I liked that. The songs on this album talk about relationships in every aspect.

Aaliyah

WHEN a man feels proud of himself, he stands erect, draws himself to his full height, throws back his head and shoulders and says with every part of his body, I am bigger and more important than you. But when he is humble he feels his littleness, and lowers his head and shrinks into himself. He abases himself. And the greater the presence in which he stands the more deeply he abases himself; the smaller he becomes in his own eyes.But when does our littleness so come home to us as when we stand in God's presence? He is the great God, who is today and yesterday, whose years are hundreds and thousands, who fills the place where we are, the city, the wide world, the measureless space of the starry sky, in whose eyes the universe is less than a particle of dust, all-holy, all-pure, all-righteous, infinitely high. He is so great, I so small, so small that beside him I seem hardly to exist, so wanting am I in worth and substance. One has no need to be told that God's presence is not the place in which to stand on one's dignity. To appear less presumptuous, to be as little and low as we feel, we sink to our knees and thus sacrifice half our height; and to satisfy our hearts still further we bow down our heads, and our diminished stature speaks to God and says, Thou art the great God; I am nothing.Therefore let not the bending of our knees be a hurried gesture, an empty form. Put meaning into it. To kneel, in the soul's intention, is to bow down before God in deepest reverence.On entering a church, or in passing before the altar, kneel down all the way without haste or hurry, putting your heart into what you do, and let your whole attitude say, Thou art the great God. It is an act of humility, an act of truth, and everytime you kneel it will do your soul good.http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Sacred/CFPtoc.htm

Romano Guardini, Sacred Signs, K

Aye, though he loved her from his soul with such a self denying love as woman seldom wins; he spoke from first to last of Martin.

Charles Dickens

The fates lead the willing, and drag the unwilling.

Seneca (Seneca the Elder)

Slow buds the pink dawn like a rose From out night's gray and cloudy sheath; Softly and still it grows and grows, Petal by petal, leaf by leaf.

Susan Coolidge

The essence of America - that which really unites us - is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion - it is an idea - and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things.

Condoleezza Rice

Incidentally, did you know that the whole eight glasses a day thing is complete bullshit and has no scientific basis? So many things are like that. Everyone just assumes they're true, because people are basically lazy and incurious, which incidentally is one of those words that sounds like it wouldn't be a word but is.

John Green

There may be Peace without Joy, and Joy without Peace, but the two combined make Happiness.

John Buchan

If you don't mark your successes, the day your ship comes in could be just another day at the office, and there's no poetry in that.

Glen Hansard

Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action.

Paul J. Meyer

In Christian life, it

Steve Farrar, Finishing Strong,

I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance; a church filled with flowers and friends. I asked him what kind of wedding he wished for; he said one that would make me his wife.

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