Sarah Dessen, This Lullaby

"I am coming to terms with the fact that loving someone requires a leap of faith, and that a soft landing is never guaranteed."

"My mother was strong, in all the ways I was weak. She fell, she hurt, she felt. She lived. And for all the tumble of her experiences, she still had hope. Maybe this next time would do the trick. Or maybe not. But unless you stepped into the game, you will never know."

"You know, when it works, love is pretty amazing. It's not overrated. There's a reason for all those songs."

"Some things don't last forever, but some things do. Like a good song, or a good book, or a good memory you can take out and unfold in your darkest times, pressing down on the corners and peering in close, hoping you still recognize the person you see there."

"No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater...The love we have for each other is bigger than these small differences. And that's the key. It's like a big pie chart, and the love in a relationship has to be the biggest piece. Love can make up for a lot."

"Maybe marriage, like life, isn't only about the big moments, whether they be good or bad. Maybe it's all the small things—like being guided slowly forward, surely, day after day—that stretches out to strengthen even the most tenuous bond."

"You know, when it works, love is amazing. It's not overrated."

"The fate of your heart is your choice and no one else gets a vote"

"Love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you."

"Holding people away from you, and denying yourself love, that doesn't make you strong. if anything, it makes you weaker. Because you're doing it out of fear."

"Are those the only options? Nothing or forever?"

"Wherever you will go, I will let you down, But this lullaby goes on."

"Love is so unpredictable. That's what makes it so great."