Colleen McCullough

Sometimes, when what you most wish for is not quite the thing you most need, fate has a way of intervening.

Life is warfare, a battle against circumstance and sooner or later the victor gets separation papers hung on him.

Passion's a phenomenon like any other human emotion -- it overspreads the mind flat, occupies it solely.

To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.

Deep down inside me, I was always me.

What is meant to be will always find a way.

It’s life. You don’t figure it out. You just climb up on the beast and ride.

Lying is easier than thinking up elaborate excuses.

Brutal, but that’s reality. We have to face it. Our job is to learn to use our brains before they're taken away from us.

If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.

You learn to rise above a forest of negatives surrounding you.

There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so says the legend.