I sighed. "Now what do I do?" He leaned against my wall. "What do you want to do?" "Since when has that mattered?" "It's always mattered. It doesn't mean you'll get what you want, but what you want always matters. That's what defines you.

— Richard Paul Evans

It has been said that sometimes the greatest hope in our lives is just a second chance to do what we should have done right in the first place.

— Richard Paul Evans

I think the secret to a happy life is a selective memory. Remember what you are most grateful for and quickly forget what your not.

— Richard Paul Evans

It is in the dark times that the light of friendship shines brightest. (The Walk - Chapter 19, Page 122

— Richard Paul Evans

It's been said that parents should give their children roots and wings. That was a perfect description of my parents. Even in a wheelchair, my father was a dreamer with his head in the clouds and my mother was the roots with both feet planted firmly on Terra quaking firm.

— Richard Paul Evans

I've come to know that what we want in life is the greatest indication of who we really are.

— Richard Paul Evans

Just like our story, the original Christmas tales were stories of searching, not so much for the lost, as for the familiar. Mary and Joseph sought in Bethlehem-the home of their familial ancestry- a place to start their own family; the three kings from the East journeyed beneath the sentinel star to find the King of Kings; and the shepherds sought a child in a place most familiar to them: a manger.

— Richard Paul Evans

Knowing your self-worth isn't something others can validate. You either believe it or you don't.

— Richard Paul Evans

Mr. Va, you cannot be stuffed into a locker without your consent." Maelstrom said, which may be the dumbest thing ever said in a school. "You should have resisted. That's like blaming someone who was struck by lightning for getting in the way.

— Richard Paul Evans

My Dear Son, I am so very proud of you. Now, as you embark on a new journey, I'd like to share this one piece of advice. Always, always remember that - adversity is not a detour. It is part of the path. You will encounter obstacles. You will make mistakes. Be grateful for both. Your obstacles and mistakes will be your greatest teachers. And the only way to not make mistakes in this life is to do nothing, which is the biggest mistake of all. Your challenges, if you let them, will become your greatest allies. Mountains can crush or raise you, depending on which side of the mountain you choose to stand on. All history bears out that the great, those who have changed the world, have all suffered great challenges. And, more times than not it's precisely those challenges that, in God's time, lead to triumph. Abhor victimhood. Denounce entitlement. Neither are gifts, rather cages to damn the soul. Everyone who has walked this earth is a victim of injustice. Everyone. Most of all, do not be too quick to denounce your sufferings. The difficult road you are called to walk may, in fact be your only path to success.

— Richard Paul Evans