Richard Paul Evans > Quotes

“Chocolate is God's apology for brocolli”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Sunflower

“I am not a believer in love at first sight. For love, in its truest form, is not the thing
of starry-eyed or star-crossed lovers, it is far more organic, requiring nurturing and time
to fully bloom, and, as such, seen best not in its callow youth but in its wrinkled maturity.
Like all living things, love, too, struggles against hardship, and in the process sheds
its fatuous skin to expose one composed of more than just a storm of emotion–one of loyalty
and divine friendship. Agape. And though it may be temporarily blinded by adversity,
it never gives in or up, holding tight to lofty ideals that transcend this earth and
time–while its counterfeit simply concludes it was mistaken and quickly runs off to
find the next real thing.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Letter

“The most important story we'll ever write in life is our own—not with ink, but with our daily choices.”
― Richard Paul Evans

“Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful but because they are fleeting.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Gift

“The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Christmas Box

“Sometimes its not the strength but gentleness that cracks the hardest shells.”
― Richard Paul Evans, Lost December

“Books are the most tolerant of friends.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Gift

“I've come to know that what we want in life is the greatest indication of who we really are.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Gift

“Love is never convenient-and rarely painless”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Sunflower

“Feelings can be like wild animals-we underrate how fierce they are until we've opened their cage”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Sunflower

“We are chained to that which we do not forgive”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Locket

“It is better to be loved by one person who knows your soul than millions who don't even know your phone number.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Walk

“I have come to believe that we do not walk alone in this life. There are others, fellow sojourners, whose journeys are interwoven with ours in seemingly random patterns, yet, in the end, have been carefully placed to reveal a remarkable tapestry. I believe God is the weaver at that loom.”
― 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, A Winter Dream

“Dance. Dance for the joy and breath of childhood. Dance for all children, including that child who is still somewhere entombed beneath the responsibility and skepticism of adulthood. Embrace the moment before it escapes from our grasp. For the only promise of childhood, of any childhood, is that it will someday end. And in the end, we must ask ourselves what we have given our children to take its place. And is it enough?”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Christmas Box Miracle: My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing and Hope

“Life's greatest philosophy is not handed down in stoic texts and dusty tomes, but lived, in each breath and act of human compassion. For love has always demanded sacrifice, and no greater love is there than that for which our lives are traded. And in this great cause of spiritual evolution we are all called to be martyrs, to die each of us, in the quest of a higher realm and loftier ideals, that we may know God. And what if there is nothing else? What if all life ends in the silent void of death? Then is it all in vain? I think not, for love, for the sake of love, will always be enough. And if our lives are but a single flash in the dark hollow of eternity, then if, but for the briefest of moments, we shine - then how brilliantly our light has burned. And as starlight knows no boundary of space or time, so too, our illumination will shine forth throughout all eternity, for darkness has no power to quell such light. And this is a lesson we must all learn and take to heart - that all light is eternal and all love is light. And it must forever be so.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Letter

“Denial, perhaps, is a necessary human mechanism to cope with the heartaches of life. ”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Christmas Box

“We humans...are seriously flawed. The things that are the most necessary, the most critical to us, are the things we take most for granted. Air. Water. Love.

If you have someone to love, you are lucky. If they love you back, you're blessed. And if you waste the time you have to love them, you're a fool.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Christmas List

“I have learned a great truth of life. We do not succeed in spite of our challenges and
difficulties, but rather, precisely because of them.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Looking Glass

“The assumption of time is one of humanity's greatest follies. We tell ourselves that there's always tomorrow, when we can no more predict tomorrow than we can the weather. Procrastination is the thief of dreams.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Walk

“Usually life’s greatest gifts come wrapped in adversity.”
― Richard Paul Evans, Finding Noel

“We carry around in our heads these pictures of what our lives are supposed to look like, painted by the brush of out intentions. It's the great, deep secret of humanity that in the end none of our lives look the way we thought they would. As much as we wish to believe otherwise, most of life is a reaction to circumstances.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Sunflower

“Mr. Vey, you cannot be stuffed into a locker without your consent." Dallstrom 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, The Prisoner of Cell 25

“It is in the dark times that the light of friendship shines brightest.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Walk

“I don't want to go to Peru."
How do you know? You've never been there."
I've never been to hell either and I'm pretty sure I don't want to go there.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Sunflower

“Life has taught me that to fly, you must first accept the possibility of falling.”
― Richard Paul Evans, The Walk

“Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves. (pg. 161)”
― Richard Paul Evans, Promise Me

“Nothing heals the soul like chocolate ... It's God's apology for broccoli.”
― Richard Paul Evans

“I think the secret to a hoppy life is a selective memory. Remember what you are most grateful for and quickly forget what your not.”
― Richard Paul Evans, Grace

“It has been a mistake living my life in the past. One cannot ride a horse backwards and still hold its reins.”
― Richard Paul Evans