One pre-publication aspect that I’ve been working on is finding quotes to place at the beginning of each chapter. As a lover of words, I find it fascinating that decades and hundreds of years later we are privileged to read those words uttered by those who used to breathe the breath of life and are now long dead. It’s a long and tedious work (30 quotes for 30 chapters); but flipping through the pages of my Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is a ton of fun. 🙂

Below I’ll share a few of my favourite quotes that I’ve come across over the last few days along with some personal remarks.

• “The day break breaks not, it is my heart.” John Dowland

An achingly beautiful rendering of simple poetry.

• “I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.” Walt Whitman

I believe every loss you face makes you stronger and more able to win the next battle.

• This kiss of the sun for pardon, 

  The song of the birds for mirth, 

  One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden 

  Than anywhere else on earth.

  Mrs. Dorothy Frances Gurney

I’ve found this to be true during my quiet moments with God. I feel closer to Him when I am surrounded by the beauty of           His creation.

• Life is mostly froth and bubble,

  Two things stand like stone,

  Kindness in another’s trouble,

  Courage in your own.

  Adam Lindsay Gordon

Relationships is what it’s all about. The lives we touch and the way we are touched to act.

• It is one thing to show a man that he is in error; and another to put him in possession of truth. John Locke

We were not created empty; we were made to be filled. By what is the question?

• After all, my erstwhile dear,

  My no longer cherished,

  Need we say it was not love,

  Just because it perished?

  Edna St. Vincent Millay

The memory of a past love shouldn’t be erased. Part of who we are today comes from who we were in the past.

Do any these strike a chord in your heart, your mind? Which one and why? Hope you enjoyed them as much as I do! And if there’s a special quote not listed here, please share in the comments.