“Those who had seen eyes like hers before understood instantly that she was a woman who had suffered, but wore it well, with dignity and grace. Rather than dragging her down into depression, her pain had lifted her into a peaceful place. She was not a Buddhist, but shared philosophies with them, in that she didn’t fight what happened to her, but instead drifted with it, allowing life to carry her from one experience to the next. It was that depth and wisdom that shone through her work. An acceptance of life as it really was, rather than trying to force it to be what one wanted, and it never could be. She was willing to let go of what she loved, which was the hardest task of all. And the more she lived and learned and studied, the humbler she was. A monk she had met in Tibet called her a holy woman, which in fact she was, although she had no particular affinity for any formal church. If she believed in anything, she believed in life, and embraced it with a gentle touch. She was a strong reed bending in the wind, beautiful and resilient.”

“Those who had seen eyes like hers before understood instantly that she was a woman who had suffered, but wore it well, with dignity and grace. Rather than dragging her down into depression, her pain had lifted her into a peaceful place. She was not a Buddhist, but shared philosophies with them, in that she didn’t fight what happened to her, but instead drifted with it, allowing life to carry her from one experience to the next. It was that depth and wisdom that shone through her work. An acceptance of life as it really was, rather than trying to force it to be what one wanted, and it never could be. She was willing to let go of what she loved, which was the hardest task of all. And the more she lived and learned and studied, the humbler she was. A monk she had met in Tibet called her a holy woman, which in fact she was, although she had no particular affinity for any formal church. If she believed in anything, she believed in life, and embraced it with a gentle touch. She was a strong reed bending in the wind, beautiful and resilient.”

“You have to move forward in life. You can’t sit in the same place, unless you want to, that’s a choice too. But you can’t sit there because someone else says you have to, because your moving forward makes them uncomfortable.”Excerpt From: Steel, Danielle. “Country.” Delacorte Press, 2015-06-16. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.”

“Some things in life are worth waiting for.”

“No man can take your freedom from you. They can limit your mobility, but that's about all they can do”

“Things work out the way they're meant to”

“If you see the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future.”

“In my late teenage years, I developed a real passion for it, and wrote a lot of poetry.”

“I studied literature design and fashion design.”

“I'm astonished by my success. I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.”

“People are much more inclined to believe and say bad things about you if you're famous.”

“I wrote because I needed to and wanted to. It never occurred to me that I'd become famous.”