Richelle E. Goodrich, Author

"When we feel overwhelmed, overpowered, discouraged, weak, helpless, and then someone comes along with the ability and willingness to serve—when you feel they do it out of pure love—that is light in the darkness. We never forget those people."

"Because we have a lot to learn and even more to give, Be always kind and ever humble all the days we live."

"Life is not easy. But we can make it better for everyone—ourselves included—by just being kind."

"If a horse refuses to drink, it refuses to drink. Lead the horse to water anyway."

"Our purpose is to catch those who are slipping and help them back onto sturdy ground. That is humanity’s great purpose."

"Sometimes I think we forget that we share humanity above all else."

"It takes fewer choices than you think to end up where you thought you would never be."

"Life is a masterful teacher. It will eventually get the point across that choices have consequences, habits form every person's character, and only love can heal the human heart."

"When your parents work so hard to convince you of the gravity of making wise choices, it is not because they want to take away your agency, it is because they want so badly to save you from the distressing consequences of carelessly mishandling that agency."

"How can we truly become knowledgeable beings with no array of experiences? Short of living through an ordeal, we cannot entirely understand or appreciate it. Agency is the chief force by which we gain such experiences, whether via our own chosen actions or those of others."

"Have you ever stopped to contemplate how precious a gift it is to choose for oneself? Imagine the stagnancy and hopelessness that would result from being denied a voice or a choice in any decision. It would be death to the soul. Humans are born agents to themselves with an innate desire to want and to prefer and to choose. We long to grow, to learn, to climb, to prove, and to develop via every personal choice we make. It is no wonder that wars have raged over the protection of individual rights for freedom of choice."

"You are allowed to make decisions contrary to popular opinion. You have the agency to think for yourself."

"It is neither your environment nor your circumstances that matter most, but your core character. A trial of faith will bolster one individual while troubling another. An open opportunity will paralyze one person yet motivate the eager and willing person. A brush with failure will erode one heart while humbling another. It is the core you that matters far more than your situation."

"If you want to witness a dynamic display of thunder and lightning, mess with another person’s agency."

"I know of no person who would voluntarily give up his or her agency for anything. We love owning the right to direct our lives, to make our choices, to say 'yes' to this on the one hand and 'no' to that on the other. We love what agency offers us in the rendering of choices and exerting our free will. But agency is not just a matter of choices, it is also the receipt of whatever consequences come as results of those personal choices. You cannot expect to cause a rainstorm and escape getting wet any more than you can expect to tell lies without forfeiting trust and integrity. When you make a choice, you accept whatever comes of it as well. The truth is that agency is more responsibility than it is freedom. So think ahead before you choose… and choose wisely."