It would hurt to leave, but it's what I had to do.

Sniffling into my pillow, I waited for the hole in my heart to stop stabbing me with pain. I waited to not feel like my life was over. That's all I felt, though… that everything was over.

—S.C. Stephens in Effortless

Some scared, insecure part of me had known we wouldn't make it… so I'd savored him.

—S.C. Stephens in Effortless

I wanted to forgive him for everything, but I couldn't. I didn't trust him.

—S.C. Stephens in Effortless

I could tell him anything. I could be anything with him. I could be everything with him.

—S.C. Stephens in Reckless

Sometimes people that you thought you knew really well, could turn out to be people that you didn't know at all.

—S.C. Stephens in Effortless

I won't ever leave you, even though you're always leaving me.

—Audrey Niffenegger in The Time Traveler’s Wife

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.

—Twyla Tharp

Some days I imagined getting on a bus and leaving this town behind. The memories weren't good. At least most of them weren't.

—Abbi Glines in Because of Low

Is that what you wanted? That I be gone for good, rather than just mad for a little while?

—Sarah Dessen in Just Listen

Home, as far as I'm concerned, is the place you have to leave. And then, if you're like me, spend the rest of your life mourning.

—Paulette Bates Alden