Don't change just enough to get away from your problems—change enough to solve them.

Learn to view your problems as temporary stumbling blocks.

Climbing to the higher levels of leadership isn't easy. It takes effort. It also requires sacrifices. You won't be able to win one level using the skills you used to win the last one. You'll have to give up some privileges and resources to move up. You'll have to give up doing some of the things you love that don't give a great enough return on your time. And some people you'd love to take with you to the top will refuse to go.

How do you cultivate optimism? By learning the secret of contentment. If you can learn that, then no matter what happens to you, you can weather the storm and build on the good you find in any situation.

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.

Write there. In the weak spot of impossibility.

I really admire people who have long-distance relationships. It's an incredible achievement. I couldn't do it.

Every creative person, and I think probably every other person, faces resistance when they are trying to create something good...The harder the resistance, the more important the task must be.

I wanted it to be an easy story. But nobody really remembers easy stories. Characters have to face their greatest fears with courage. That's what makes a story good. If you think about the stories you like most, they probably have lots of conflict. There is probably death at stake, inner death or actual death, you know. These polar charges, these happy and sad things in life, are like colors God uses to draw the world.

And stories are all about conflict.

1.?What does the hero want? 2.?Who or what is opposing the hero getting what she wants? 3.?What will the hero's life look like if she does (or does not) get what she wants?

Our desire to avoid pain motivates us to seek a resolution to our problems.