Parents always know what strings control your heart and soul. After all, they are the ones who tied them there.

To treat a person like a carpet, it is necessary that one do the walking, and one allow himself to be walked on. --Shin'a'in saying

Once the blinders are off, it's rather hard to go back to seeing things the way you used to.

If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.

If you would rise, do so alone.

I try to use all of my senses when describing a setting, and try to think of everything that would impact a character in any given scene.

We're none of us quite so sure of our place in the world that we can't be rocked off our feet by bad times. It's the getting back up again that counts. Not that you fall, but getting back up again counts for more in the long run.