Journey And Destination Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Journey And Destination. Here they are! All 100 of them:

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Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.
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Anna Quindlen (How Reading Changed My Life)
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Life before Death. Strength before Weakness. Journey before Destination.
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Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1))
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Life is a journey, not a destination.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
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The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination.
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Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives)
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And so, does the destination matter? Or is it the path we take? I declare that no accomplishment has substance nearly as great as the road used to achieve it. We are not creatures of destinations. It is the journey that shapes us. Our callused feet, our backs strong from carrying the weight of our travels, our eyes open with the fresh delight of experiences lived.
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Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1))
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Sometimes when you lose your way, you find YOURSELF.
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Mandy Hale (The Single Woman–Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass: Embracing Singleness with Confidence)
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Regrets about the journey, maybe, but not the destination.
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Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)
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All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.
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Martin Buber
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Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man's son doth know.
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William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)
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I made up my mind not to care so much about the destination, and simply enjoy the journey.
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David Archuleta (Chords of Strength: A Memoir of Soul, Song and the Power of Perseverance)
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Journey before destination, you bastard.
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Brandon Sanderson (Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4))
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It's the journey that matters, soak it in. Learn lessons out of it. Impact positively so that if you never get to your destination, at least you'd leave a legacy to be remembered.
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Emem Uko
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Sometimes it's worth lingering on the journey for a while before getting to the destination.
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Richelle Mead (The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines, #3))
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Knowledge is a destination. Truth, the journey.
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Terry Goodkind
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Sometimes it takes a wrong turn to get you to the right place.
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Mandy Hale (The Single Woman–Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass: Embracing Singleness with Confidence)
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The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.
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Alain de Botton (The Art of Travel)
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roads were made for journeys not destinations
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Confucius
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Its the not the Destination, It's the journey.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson (Self-Reliance: An Excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series)
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A sociopath is one who sees others as impersonal objects to be manipulated to fulfill their own narcissistic needs without any regard for the hurtful consequences of their selfish actions.
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R. Alan Woods (The Journey Is the Destination: A Book of Quotes With Commentaries)
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Excellence/Perfection is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.
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Brian Tracy
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Successful people enjoy the journeys they embark on, irrespective of whether they reach their destination or not.
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Zain Hashmi
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Sunlight shines beauty aglow, by the banks of the river that quietly flow. Misty rain yields comfort to a muggy night. Wind of a gentle breeze, calming the skies destine of rendering light.
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Sherman Kennon (Whisk Of Dust: Too Unseen Distance)
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You are the grim, goal-oriented ones who will not believe that the joy is in the journey rather than the destination no matter how many times it has been proven to you.
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Stephen King
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A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles. The trials. The knowledge that we will fail. That we will hurt those around us. But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fail, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination.
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Brandon Sanderson (Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3))
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Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination. I will protect those who cannot protect themselves. I will protect even those I hate so long as it is right.
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Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive 4 Book Set: The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Edgedancer, Oathbringer)
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Drinking tequila is more about the journey than the destination
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Rainbow Rowell (Fangirl)
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The most important words a man can say are, β€œI will do better.” These are not the most important words any man can say. I am a man, and they are what I needed to say. The ancient code of the Knights Radiant says β€œjourney before destination.” Some may call it a simple platitude, but it is far more. A journey will have pain and failure. It is not only the steps forward that we must accept. It is the stumbles. The trials. The knowledge that we will fail. That we will hurt those around us. But if we stop, if we accept the person we are when we fall, the journey ends. That failure becomes our destination. To love the journey is to accept no such end. I have found, through painful experience, that the most important step a person can take is always the next one. I’m certain some will feel threatened by this record. Some few may feel liberated. Most will simply feel that it should not exist. I needed to write it anyway.
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Brandon Sanderson (Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3))
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The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.
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Barbara Hall
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Life is a journey, not a destination; there are no mistakes, just chances we've taken.
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India.Arie
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East, West, South or North makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey, a journey within. If you travel within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.
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Elif Shafak (The Forty Rules of Love)
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happiness is a journey, not a destination. Ψ§Ω„Ψ³ΨΉΨ§Ψ―Ψ© Ψ±Ψ­Ω„Ψ©, ΩˆΩ„ΩŠΨ³Ψͺ ΩˆΨ¬Ω‡Ψ©.
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Robin S. Sharma (The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny)
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The journey is the destination.
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Dan Eldon
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God always brings someone into your life that has traveled the same path and knows the rocks you climbed to get to the end of the trail.
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Shannon L. Alder
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I knew my father had done the best he could, and I had no regrets about the way I'd turned out. Regrets about journey, maybe, but not the destination.
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Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook (The Notebook, #1))
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The question is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.
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Brandon Sanderson (Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3))
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Because the greatest part of a road trip isn’t arriving at your destination. It’s all the wild stuff that happens along the way.
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Emma Chase (Tamed (Tangled, #3))
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It was being a runner that mattered, not how fast or how far I could run. The joy was in the act of running and in the journey, not in the destination. We have a better chance of seeing where we are when we stop trying to get somewhere else. We can enjoy every moment of movement, as long as where we are is as good as where we'd like to be. That's not to say that you need to be satisfied forever with where you are today. But you need to honor what you've accomplished, rather than thinking of what's left to be done (p. 159).
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John Bingham (No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running)
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Death comes to all. But life comes first. Cherish it. Death is the destination. But the journey, that is life. That is what matters.
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Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1))
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That’s why it is important to enjoy the journey not just the destination. In this world, we will never arrive at a place where everything is perfect and we have no more challenges. As admirable as setting goals and reaching them maybe, you can’t get so focused on accomplishing your goals that you make the mistake of not enjoying where you are right now.
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Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)
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The journey, Not the destination matters...
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T.S. Eliot
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Happily ever after wasn’t a destination, it was a journey. And we were well on our way.
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Nicole Williams (Fallen Eden (Eden Trilogy, #2))
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Perfectly Imperfect We have all heard that no two snowflakes are alike. Each snowflake takes the perfect form for the maximum efficiency and effectiveness for its journey. And while the universal force of gravity gives them a shared destination, the expansive space in the air gives each snowflake the opportunity to take their own path. They are on the same journey, but each takes a different path. Along this gravity-driven journey, some snowflakes collide and damage each other, some collide and join together, some are influenced by wind... there are so many transitions and changes that take place along the journey of the snowflake. But, no matter what the transition, the snowflake always finds itself perfectly shaped for its journey. I find parallels in nature to be a beautiful reflection of grand orchestration. One of these parallels is of snowflakes and us. We, too, are all headed in the same direction. We are being driven by a universal force to the same destination. We are all individuals taking different journeys and along our journey, we sometimes bump into each other, we cross paths, we become altered... we take different physical forms. But at all times we too are 100% perfectly imperfect. At every given moment we are absolutely perfect for what is required for our journey. I’m not perfect for your journey and you’re not perfect for my journey, but I’m perfect for my journey and you’re perfect for your journey. We’re heading to the same place, we’re taking different routes, but we’re both exactly perfect the way we are. Think of what understanding this great orchestration could mean for relationships. Imagine interacting with others knowing that they too each share this parallel with the snowflake. Like you, they are headed to the same place and no matter what they may appear like to you, they have taken the perfect form for their journey. How strong our relationships would be if we could see and respect that we are all perfectly imperfect for our journey.
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Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
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For a moment, I wondered how different my life would have been had they been my parents, but I shook the thought away. I knew my father had done the best he could, and I had no regrets about the way I'd turned out. Regrets about the journey, maybe, but not the destination. Because however it had happened, I'd somehow ended up eating shrimp in a dingy downtown shack with a girl that I already knew I'd never forget.
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Nicholas Sparks
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Don’t say you don’t have enough time or enough money to change the world. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Gandhi, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci and Jesus Christ.
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Shannon L. Alder
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Despite all the things I would have changed about our journey, I’d never want a different destination. It’s always been you.
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Leisa Rayven (Broken Juliet (Starcrossed, #2))
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If you’ve been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt, isn’t it time to move on to a new destination? Don’t waste a lot of time stressing the β€œcould have’s” – because if it should have, it would have!
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Mandy Hale (The Single Woman–Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass: Embracing Singleness with Confidence)
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I had thought the destination was what was important, but it turned out it was the journey.
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Clayton M. Christensen (How Will You Measure Your Life?)
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Apparently the completion of long-term goals often leads to depression. It’s the journey, not the destination,
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Emily Henry (People We Meet on Vacation)
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The revelation that I’m destined to meet many virgins from the East and the promise of limitless love they hold in their bosoms gives me strength, fortitude, and tenacityβ€”and the wisdom to know that all three are synonyms.
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Merlin Franco (Saint Richard Parker)
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The beauty of traveling is understood along the way rather than at the end of the journey, just as the purpose of marriage isn’t about becoming Mr. and Mrs.’s, but is about the love that is expressed on a daily basis between two lovers. A journey is not made up of the destinations that we arrive at, but is composed within every step and each breath we make.
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Forrest Curran
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focus on the journey, not on arriving at a certain destination.
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Chris Hadfield (An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth)
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Journey before destination. There are several ways to achieve a goal. Failure is preferable to winning through unjust means. Protecting ten innocents is not worth killing one. In the end, all men die. How you lived will be far more important to the Almighty than what you accomplished.
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Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1))
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Enjoy the journey, because the destination is a mirage.
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Steven Furtick
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For where thy treasure is, there also will thy heart be.
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Anonymous (The Holy Bible: King James Version)
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Why do travelers depart as they do, leaving an incomplete tale of footprints in the earth.
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Suman Pokhrel
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Some people are dotted lines and other people are destinations. Some people get you somewhere and some people are just a place to be, all in themselves. But you cannot force those dotted lines into destinations.
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Hannah Brencher (If You Find This Letter: My Journey to Find Purpose Through Hundreds of Letters to Strangers)
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Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be Number 1.
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Arthur Ashe
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No one you have been and no place you have gone ever leaves you. The new parts of you simply jump in the car and go along for the rest of the ride. The success of your journey and your destination all depend on who's driving.
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Bruce Springsteen (Born to Run)
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That roads are for journeys, ma'am, not destinations
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Margaret Landon
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The good enemy accompanies you on the journey, but you will never reach your destination with him.
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Toba Beta (My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut)
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Our destination is the same in the end, but our journey - part chosen, part determined - is different for us all, and changes even as we live and grow.
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Iain Banks (The Wasp Factory)
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The longer you have to wait for something, the more you will appreciate it when it finally arrives. The harder you have to fight for something, the more priceless it will become once you achieve it. And the more pain you have to endure on your journey, the sweeter the arrival at your destination. All good things are worth waiting for and worth fighting for.
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Susan Gale
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The Road Life isn't a destination It's a journey. But you gotta be heading somewhere or you're just a mouse going round. Even if the place you wind up isn't the place you where bound
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Carolee Dean (Take Me There)
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It’s time for you to become more motivated, creative and goal-oriented, and you start that journey by taking care of yourself.
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Pooja Agnihotri (17 Reasons Why Businesses Fail :Unscrew Yourself From Business Failure)
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Sometimes it’s worth lingering on the journey for a while before getting to the destination." Metaphors. This was the cost of making out with an artist.
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Richelle Mead (The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines, #3))
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There are two things you can run and not hide from- God and a dysfunctional family". ~R. Alan Woods [2012]
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R. Alan Woods (The Journey Is The Destination: A Photo Journal)
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Have Ithaka always in your mind. Your arrival there is what you are destined for. But don't in the least hurry the journey.
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Constantinos P. Cavafy
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He learned to read the ocean by a cupful. He also learned to regard each port of call as part of the journey and not as the destination. Every voyage begins when you do.
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E.L. Konigsburg (The View from Saturday)
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Not to give up under any circumstances should be the motto of our life: we shall try again and again, and we are bound to succeed. There will be obstacles, but we have to defy them. So do not give up, do not give up! Continue, continue! The goal is ahead of you. If you do not give up, you are bound to reach your destined goal.
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Sri Chinmoy (The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey)
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A world which increasingly consists of destinations without journeys between them, a world which values only "getting somewhere" as fast as possible, becomes a world without substance.
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Alan W. Watts (The Way of Zen)
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Finding a soul mate is a journey not a destination.
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Frank Polancic
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When we allow ourselves to explore, we discover destinations that were never on our map.
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Amie Kaufman (Unearthed (Unearthed, #1))
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We are sand and rock and water and sky, anchors on ships and sails in the wind. We are a journey to a destination that shifts every time we dream or fall or keep or weep. We are stars with flaws that still sparkle and shine. We always strive, always want, always have more questions than answers, but there are moments like these, full of magic and contentment, when souls get a glimpse of the divine and quite simply, lose their breath.
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Leylah Attar (The Paper Swan)
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And I had no regrets about the way I turned out. Regrets about the journey, maybe, but not about the destination.
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Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)
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Focus on the journey not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.
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Greg Anderson
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You don't always need to know your destination when you set out on a journey.
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Carole Wilkinson (Dragon Moon (Dragon Keeper, #3))
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It's not so much the destination as it is the journey." -Captain Jack
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Captain Jack Sparrow
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Peace is the way, not the destination.
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Shannon L. Alder
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Never regard study as a duty but as an enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later works belong." ~Albert Einstein "Einstein is referring to ones 'legacy' and its intended future recipients as being willfully purposed to benefit them on their journey through this gift of life given to us by God
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R. Alan Woods (The Journey Is the Destination: A Book of Quotes With Commentaries)
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Marriage is like going on a road trip with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, except you have no map or fancy GPS system to help you out. You might not always agree on what music to play or which direction you should go. I can guarantee there will be moments you want to rip your hair outβ€”or each other’s. Just like there will be times that test you, where you think that maybe things would be easier if you hitch a ride with someone else. The point is, life is going to throw a lot of things at you. Stuff like flat tires, dead ends, and mechanical issues. But you can either make the most of the journey with one another or cry about never getting to your destination. No one can make the right decision but you.
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Lauren Asher (Terms and Conditions (Dreamland Billionaires, #2))
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But there won’t be any more journeys after this one, no more oceans explored. And maybe that’s why I am filled with calm. My life has been a migration without a destination, and that in itself is senseless. I leave for no reason, just to be moving, and it breaks my heart a thousand times, a million.
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Charlotte McConaghy (Migrations)
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Do you want to make progress? If so, then take each problem not as a challenging rival, but as an encouraging friend of yours, who is helping you to arrive at your ultimate destination.
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Sri Chinmoy (The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey)
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One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking things.
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Henry Miller
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Ithaka As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, angry Poseidonβ€”don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidonβ€”you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you. Hope the voyage is a long one. May there be many a summer morning when, with what pleasure, what joy, you come into harbors seen for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kindβ€” as many sensual perfumes as you can; and may you visit many Egyptian cities to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars. Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you are destined for. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you are old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
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Constantinos P. Cavafy (C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems)
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Life is similar to a bus ride. The journey begins when we board the bus. We meet people along our way of which some are strangers, some friends and some strangers yet to be friends. There are stops at intervals and people board in. At times some of these people make their presence felt, leave an impact through their grace and beauty on us fellow passengers while on other occasions they remain indifferent. But then it is important for some people to make an exit, to get down and walk the paths they were destined to because if people always made an entrance and never left either for the better or worse, then we would feel suffocated and confused like those people in the bus, the purpose of the journey would lose its essence and the journey altogether would neither be worthwhile nor smooth.
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Chirag Tulsiani
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Those times when you get up early and you work hard; those times when you stay up late and you work hard; those times when you don’t feel like working, you’re too tired, you don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway; that is actually the dream. That’s the dream. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
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Kobe Bryant
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There is little faith involved in setting out on a journey where the destination is certain and every step in between has been mapped in detail. Bravery, trust, is about leaving camp in the dark, when we do not know the route ahead and cannot be certain we will ever return.
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Bear Grylls (A Survival Guide for Life)
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You cannot have my pain.” β€œDalinar—” Dalinar forced himself to his feet. β€œYou. Cannot. Have. My. Pain.” β€œBe sensible.” β€œI killed those children,” Dalinar said. β€œNo, it—” β€œI burned the people of Rathalas.” β€œI was there, influencing you—” β€œYOU CANNOT HAVE MY PAIN!” Dalinar bellowed, stepping toward Odium. The god frowned. His Fused companions shied back, and Amaram raised a hand before his eyes and squinted. Were those gloryspren spinning around Dalinar? β€œI did kill the people of Rathalas,” Dalinar shouted. β€œYou might have been there, but I made the choice. I decided!” He stilled. β€œI killed her. It hurts so much, but I did it. I accept that. You cannot have her. You cannot take her from me again.” β€œDalinar,” Odium said. β€œWhat do you hope to gain, keeping this burden?” Dalinar sneered at the god. β€œIf I pretend … If I pretend I didn’t do those things, it means that I can’t have grown to become someone else.” β€œA failure.” Something stirred inside of Dalinar. A warmth that he had known once before. A warm, calming light. Unite them. β€œJourney before destination,” Dalinar said. β€œIt cannot be a journey if it doesn’t have a beginning.” A thunderclap sounded in his mind. Suddenly, awareness poured back into him. The Stormfather, distant, feeling frightenedβ€”but also surprised. Dalinar? β€œI will take responsibility for what I have done,” Dalinar whispered. β€œIf I must fall, I will rise each time a better man.
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Brandon Sanderson (Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3))
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The long series of disappointments you accumulate in a lifetime can stop you from moving forward into all the goodness God has planned for you – and that means they’ll be stopping not only you, but also all those God has destined you to reach along your life journey.
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Christine Caine (Undaunted: Daring to do what God calls you to do)
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It never ceases to amaze me when God wants to take someone to the next level in their life and they let fear of the unknown rob them of tremendous blessings. I think there are two common problems with Christians- They are scared to death of being truly free and of God's overwhelming love.
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R. Alan Woods (The Journey Is the Destination: A Book of Quotes With Commentaries)
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As with all journeys, the Way has an end, though it should not be imagined as a straight road leading to a fixed destination but rather as a majestic mountain whose peak conceals the presence of God. There are, of course, many paths to the summit-some better than others. But because every path eventually leads to the same destination, which path one takes is irrelevant.
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Reza Aslan (No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam)
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The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.” Today we have abundant opportunities to utilize our strengths and passions, do things we enjoy, and connect with people we love.Tomorrow might bring a world of exciting new possibilities, but today, wherever we stand on our journey, can be an adventure in itself.
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Carl R. Rogers
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In space flight, β€œattitude” refers to orientation: which direction your vehicle is pointing relative to the Sun, Earth and other spacecraft. If you lose control of your attitude, two things happen: the vehicle starts to tumble and spin, disorienting everyone on board, and it also strays from its course, which, if you’re short on time or fuel, could mean the difference between life and death. In the Soyuz, for example, we use every cue from every available sourceβ€”periscope, multiple sensors, the horizonβ€”to monitor our attitude constantly and adjust if necessary. We never want to lose attitude, since maintaining attitude is fundamental to success. In my experience, something similar is true on Earth. Ultimately, I don’t determine whether I arrive at the desired professional destination. Too many variables are out of my control. There’s really just one thing I can control: my attitude during the journey, which is what keeps me feeling steady and stable, and what keeps me headed in the right direction. So I consciously monitor and correct, if necessary, because losing attitude would be far worse than not achieving my goal.
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Chris Hadfield (An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth)
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Before your reach your destination, you'll find yourself going through the wilderness. There's some survival skills that you'll need master through the wilderness journey. While in the wilderness, your faith will be tried and tested. You'll become humble. Your vision for your life will get clearer. You're in training for your purpose. You'll lose some friends, because there's some folks who are only with you because of where they think your journey will lead THEM. Don't worry, they're a little confused... but it was meant for them to get lost during this phase. Walk on. Continue on your journey. Soon, you'll be approaching the mountain. Get ready to climb!
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Yvonne Pierre (The Day My Soul Cried: A Memoir)
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Each of us, in our own personal Factory, may believe we have stumbled down one corridor, and that our fate is sealed and certain (dream or nightmare, humdrum or bizarre, good or bad), but a word, a glance, a slip - anything can change that, alter it entirely, and our marble hall becomes a gutter, or our rat-maze a golden path. Our destination is the same in the end, but our journey - part chosen, part determined- is different for us all, and changes even as we live and grow. I thought one door had snicked shut behind me years ago; in fact I was still crawling about the face. Now the door closes, and my journey begins.
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Iain Banks (The Wasp Factory)
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What Machine is it that bears us along so relentlessly? We go rattling thro' another Day,- another Year,- as thro' an empty Town without a Name, in the Midnight...we have but Memories of some Pause at the Pleasure-Spas of our younger Day, the Maidens, the Cards, the Claret,- we seek to extend our stay, but now a silent Functionary in dark Livery indicates it is time to re-board the Coach, and resume the Journey. Long before the Destination, moreover, shall this Machine come abruptly to a Stop...gather'd dense with Fear, shall we open the Door to confer with the Driver, to discover that there is no Driver...no Horses,...only the Machine, fading as we stand, and a Prairie of desperate Immensity...
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Thomas Pynchon (Mason & Dixon)
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You're crossing the ocean on a wooden ship. One of the boards rots, so you replace it with another that you've stored on your hold. It is still the same ship? Most people will agree that it is. But what if, bit by bit, as you make your journey, your ships sustains more and more damage, so that by the time you reach your destination, you have substituted each piece with its counterpart and not a single piece remains unreplaced. Now is it the same ship? Why or why not? How much of a thing is its pattern and how much its physical material? I was fascinated by the question of wether and how long you could remain the same person after casting off part of your body or, for that matter, after casting part of your history, part of your personality, part of your life.
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Neil LaBute (My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales)
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Life is like a train ride. The passengers on the train are seemingly going to the same destination as you, but based on their belief in you or their belief that the train will get them to their desired destination they will stay on the ride or they will get off somewhere during the trip. People can and will get off at any stop. Just know that where people get off is more of an reflection on them, than it is on you. There will be a few people in your life that will make the whole trip with you, who believe in you, accept that you are human and that mistakes will be made along the way, and that you will get to your desired destination - together, no matter what. Be very grateful of these people. They are rare and when you find one, don't let go of them - ever. Be blessed for the ones who get on at the worst stops when no one is there. Remember those people, they are special. Always hold them dear to your heart. Be very wary of people sneaking on at certain stops when things are going good and acting like they have been there for the whole ride. For they will be the first to depart. There will be ones who secretly try to get off the ride and there will be those that very publicly will jump off. Don't pay any heed to the defectors. Pay heed to the passengers that are still on the trip. They are the important ones. If someone tries to get back on the train - don't be angry or hold a grudge, let them. Just see where they are around the next hard turn. If they are buckled in - accept them. If they are pulling the hand rail alarm again - then let them off the train freely and waste no space in your head for them again, ever. There will be times that the train will be moving slow, at almost a crawls pace. Appreciate that you can take in the view. There will be times where the train is going so fast that everything is a blur. Enjoy the sense of speed in your life, as it is exhilarating but unsustainable. There will also be the chance that the train derails. If that does happen, it will hurt, a lot, for a long time. But there will be people who will appear out of no where who will get you back on track. Those will be the people that will matter most in your life. Love them forever. For you can never repay these people. The thing is, that even if you could repay them, they wouldn't accept it anyway. Just pay it forward. Eventually your train will get to its final stop and you will need to deboard. At that time you will realize that life is about the journey AND the destination. Know and have faith that at the end of your ride your train will have the right passengers on board and all the passengers that were on board at one time or another were there for a distinct purpose. Enjoy the ride.
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JohnA Passaro
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There are seven incarnations (and six correlates) necessary to becoming an Artist: 1. Explorer (Courage) 2. Surveyor (Vision) 3. Miner (Strength) 4. Refiner (Patience) 5. Designer (Intelligence) 6. Maker (Experience) 7. Artist. First, you must leave the safety of your home and go into the dangers of the world, whether to an actual territory or some unexamined aspect of the psyche. This is what is meant by 'Explorer.' Next, you must have the vision to recognize your destination once you arrive there. Note that a destination may sometimes also be the journey. This is what is meant by 'Surveyor.' Third, you must be strong enough to dig up the facts, follow veins of history, unearth telling details. This is what is meant by 'Miner.' Fourth, you must have the patience to winnow and process your material into something rare. This may take months or even years. And this is what is meant by 'Refiner.' Fifth, you must use your intellect to conceive of your material as something meaning more than its origins. This is what is meant by 'Designer.' Six, you must fashion a work independent of everything that has gone before it including yourself. This is accomplished though experience and is what is meant by 'Maker.' At this stage, the work is acceptable. You will be fortunate to have progressed so far. It is unlikely, however, that you will go any farther. Most do not. But let us assume you are exceptional. Let us assume you are rare. What then does it mean to reach the final incarnation? Only this: at every stage, from 1 thru 6, you will risk more, see more, gather more, process more, fashion more, consider more, love more, suffer more, imagine more and in the end know why less means more and leave what doesn't and keep what implies and create what matters. This is what is meant by 'Artist.
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Mark Z. Danielewski
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Open Letter to Neil Armstrong" Dear Neil Armstrong, I write this to you as she sleeps down the hall. I need answers I think only you might have. When you were a boy, and space was simple science fiction, when flying was merely a daydream between periods of History and Physics, when gifts of moon dust to the one you loved could only be wrapped in your imagination.. Before the world knew your name; before it was a destination in the sky.. What was the moon like from your back yard? Your arm, strong warm and wrapped under her hair both of you gazing up from your back porch summers before your distant journey. But upon landing on the moon, as the earth rose over the sea of tranquility, did you look for her? What was it like to see our planet, and know that everything, all you could be, all you could ever love and long for.. was just floating before you. Did you write her name in the dirt when the cameras weren't looking? Surrounding both your initials with a heart for alien life to study millions of years from now? What was it like to love something so distant? What words did you use to bring the moon back to her? And what did you promise in the moons ear, about that girl back home? Can you, teach me, how to fall from the sky? I ask you this, not because I doubt your feat, I just want to know what it's like to go somewhere no man had ever been, just to find that she wasn't there. To realize your moon walk could never compare to the steps that led to her. I now know that the flight home means more. Every July I think of you. I imagine the summer of 1969, how lonely she must have felt while you were gone.. You never went back to the moon. And I believe that's because it dosen't take rockets to get you where you belong. I see that in this woman down the hall, sometimes she seems so much further. But I'm ready for whatever steps I must take to get to her.I have seem SO MANY skies.. but the moon, well, it always looks the same. So I gotta say, Neil, that rock you landed on, has got NOTHING on the rock she's landed on. You walked around, took samples and left.. She's built a fire cleaned up the place and I hope she decides to stay.. because on this rock.. we can breath. Mr. Armstrong, I don't have much, many times have I been upside down with trauma, but with these empty hands, comes a heart that is often more full than the moon. She's becoming my world, pulling me into orbit, and I now know that I may never find life outside of hers. I want to give her EVERYTHING I don't have yet.. So YES, for her, I would go to the moon and back.... But not without her. We'd claim the moon for each other, with flags made from sheets down the hall. And I'd risk it ALL to kiss her under the light of the earth, the brightness of home... but I can do all of that and more right here, where she is..And when we gaze up, her arms around ME, I will NOT promise her gifts of moon dust, or flights of fancy. Instead I will gladly give her all the earth she wants, in return for all the earth she is. The sound of her heart beat and laughter, and all the time it takes to return to fall from the sky,down the hall, and right into love. God, I'd do it every day, if I could just land next to her. One small step for man, but she's one giant leap for my kind.
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Mike McGee