Nicholas Sparks, The Choice

"A moment later, he plopped down on the sand beside her, and when they accidentally touched, Gabby had the briefest flash of them sitting together just like this on a hundred different weekends in the future."

"Staring at the stars was like staring backward in time, since some stars are so far away that their light takes millions of years just to reach us. That we see stars not as they look now, but as they were when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The whole concept just struck me as…amazing somehow."

"He often felt that too many people lived their lives acting and pretending,wearing masks and losing themselves in the process."

"At times, it almost felt like I was destined to take the trip, like all the people I met had somehow been waiting for me"

"What can you do when you're condemned to a place where every choice seems wrong - even the one you promised your lover you'd make?"

"He'd lived long enough to know that everyone handled grief in different ways, and little by little, they all seemed to accept their new lives."

"The last thing she'd wanted was anything as complicated as a relationship, for it felt as though there we're though complication in her life already."

".. questions that had begun to creep into her thoughts whenever they we're together. When would he be ready? Would he ever be ready? And of course, why he wasn't ready?.."

"The past was gone and the future had yet to unfold, and he knew he should focus his life on the present…yet his day-to-day existence suddenly struck him as endless and unbearable."

"That's the thing about being the product of happily marries parents, You grow up thinking the fairy tale is real, and more than that, you think you're entitled to live it. So far, though, it wasn't working out as planned."

"There were moments when it honestly seemed as if the world were conspiring against her."

"You gotta know when to be lazy. Done correctly, it's an art form that benefits everyone."

"As Confucius once said, "He who does nothing is the one who does nothing."'Gabby pondered the words, the furrowed her brow. 'did Confucius really say that'Sunglasses in place, Stephanie managed the tiniest of shrugs. 'No, but who cared? The point is, they handled, and most likely they found some sort of self-satisfaction in their industrious-ness. Who am I to deprive them of that'Gabby put her hands on her hips. 'Or maybe you just wanted to be lazy.'Stephanie grinned. 'Like Jesus said, "Blessed are the lazy who lie in boats, for they shall inherit a suntan."''Jesus didn't say that.''True,' Stephanie afreed, sitting up. She removed her glasses, stared through them, then wiped them on a towel. 'But again, who cares?"

"Three weeks ago, he’d seen hail fall from the sky, onlyto be followed minutes later by a spectacular rainbow that seemed to frame the azalea bushes. The colors, so vivid they seemed almost alive, made him think that nature sometimes sends us signs, that it’s important to remember that joy can always follow despair. But a moment later, the rainbow had vanished and the hail returned, and he realized that joy was sometimes only an illusion."

"The two of you, there's something uncanny about the way you two are with each other. I mean everything--the way you look at each other, the way she relaxes when you put your hand on her back, the way you both seem to know what the other is always thinking, it's always struck me as extraordinary. That's another reason I keep putting marriage off. I know I want something like what you two share, and I'm not sure I've found it yet. I'm not sure I ever will. And with love like that, they say anything's possible, right?"

"How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?"

"How far should a person go in the name of true love?"

"Spending time with you showed me what I’ve been missing in my life."