Last Updated on September 6, 2024
He is best known for his breakthrough novel called The Notebook. When it was adapted into a film in 2004, various award-giving bodies recognized the brilliance of the plot. It sent hopeless romantics to a frenzy after it gave them faith in love against all odds.
Believe it or not, Nicholas Charles Sparks, or simply Nicholas Sparks, did not always plan to be an author. Before jumping into the world of romance novels, he once dreamed of becoming a businessman. This didn’t hinder him though to sell over 105 million copies of his books worldwide.
Rough Beginning
Life wasn’t always easy for the middle child of Patrick Michael Sparks and Jill Emma Marie Sparks. Patrick was a professor, while Jill was a homemaker. Nicholas spent most of his childhood moving around from Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, to finally settling down in Fair Oaks, California.
He describes this period as “Lean ones because my father was a student until I was nine years old and my mother didn’t work, we weren’t exactly living the high life when I was little.
I grew up on powdered milk and ate tons of potatoes, though to be honest, I never noticed how poor we really were until I was old enough to take an honest appraisal of things. Even then, it didn’t matter. For the most part, I had a wonderful childhood and wouldn’t change a thing,” he shares in an article entitled Nicholas Sparks Biography published by A&E Television Networks.
After graduating as the class valedictorian in Bella Vista High School, he went on to pursue a business course at the University of Notre Dame.
Sparks was offered a full sports scholarship for track and field. On his first year in college, he was able to set a record, which still stands up to this day. An injury in his Achilles tendon, however, impeded his athletic pursuit. Forced to spend the summer recovering from the incident, Sparks started writing, and eventually finished his first novel entitled The Passing, which was never published.
His mother inspired him to start writing. Sparks can clearly remember what she said when he was just 19 years old. “Your problem is that you’re bored. You need to find something to do. Write a book,” she remarked. Sparks has always been fond of reading, but creating a story on his own back then sounded like a hard hobby.
Business Major Turned Writer
He continued to show academic excellence as he graduated from the university in 1988 with honors. While on spring break, he met Catherine Cote, a student from New Hampshire who Sparks described in a journal from people.com as someone who “laughed and smiled and was effervescent”. In 1989, they got married.
He tried publishing and applying to law school but was rejected on both. He resorted to other careers such as waiting tables, being a real estate appraiser, selling dental products, and starting his own manufacturing business.
In 1990, he published his very first book, which he called Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding. This was a joint project that he wrote alongside Billy Mills. It was a non-fiction piece described by Amazon as a book that explains “how to follow the ways of the Lakota Amerindians and discover the keys to peace of mind and self-understanding”. He sold approximately 50,000 copies in its initial year after release.
Fast forward to 1993, he transferred to Washington D.C. where his groundbreaking, world-famous novel called The Notebook was born. He wrote it at age 28 during his spare time, taking him over a period of six months to finish. Theresa Park, a literary agent, discovered it and immediately secured a $1-million advance from the Time Warner Book Group. When it was finally released in October 1996, it instantly climbed up the New York Times bestseller list.
Family and Success
After his first solo novel’s success, Sparks and Cathy moved to New Bern, North Carolina with their three sons and twin daughters: Miles, Ryan, and Landon, and Lexie and Savannah. However, on January 6, 2015, after almost 30 years of marriage, Sparks announced that he and Cathy had separated.
Aside from The Notebook, according to his official website, he also authored the following novels, some of which were later adapted as films: Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), Three Weeks With My Brother (2004), True Believer (2005), At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), and The Longest Ride (2013), See Me (2015) and Two by Two (2016).
Here are 100 quotes from Nicholas Sparks.
Nicholas Sparks Quotes
“Love is like the wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it can.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You’re going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it’s always their actions you should judge them by. It’s actions, not words that matter.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You are my best friend as well as my lover, and I do not know which side of you I enjoy the most. I treasure each side, just as I have treasured our life together.”- Nicholas Sparks
“You are, and always have been, my dream.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Sometimes you have to be apart from people you love, but that doesn’t make you love them any less. Sometimes you love them more.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I love you. I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I’ve ever had, and no matter what happens to us in the future, every day we are together is the greatest day of my life. I will always be yours.” – Nicholas Sparks
“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I’d hoped to give you forever.” – Nicholas Sparks
“We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created. For me, love like that has only happened once, and that’s why every minute we spent together has been seared in my memory. I’ll never forget a single moment of it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“When you’re struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them, it’s just as hard as what you’re going through.” – Nicholas Sparks
“They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other every day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.” – Nicholas Sparks
“My daddy said, that the first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy. Remember that.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You are the answer to every prayer I’ve offered. You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don’t know how I could have lived without you for as long as I have.” – Nicholas Sparks
“If you like her, if she makes you happy, and if you feel like you know her—then don’t let her go.” –Nicholas Sparks
“True love is rare, and it’s the only thing that gives life real meaning.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I’m not a little kid anymore. It means pissed-at- men syndrome.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Mom says it’s because she has PMS. Do you even know what that means?” – Nicholas Sparks
“I love you more than there are stars in the sky and fish in the sea.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I mean, if the relationship can’t survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?” – Nicholas Sparks
“It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” – Nicholas Sparks
“The greater the love, the greater the tragedy when it’s over.” – Nicholas Sparks
“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.” – Nicholas Sparks
“And when her lips met mine, I knew that I could live to be a hundred and visit every country in the world, but nothing would ever compare to that single moment when I first kissed the girl of my dreams and knew that my love would last forever.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Life, he realize, was much like a song. In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it’s in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole thing worthwhile.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Our story has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. And although this is the way all stories unfold, I still can’t believe that ours didn’t go on forever.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Every great love starts with a great story…” – Nicholas Sparks
“If we’d never met, I think I would have known that my life wasn’t complete. And I would have wandered the world in search of you, even if I didn’t know who I was looking for.”-Nicholas Sparks
“’Trust people,’ he would tell me, ‘until they give you a reason not to. And then never turn your back.’” – Nicholas Sparks
“The past can be escaped only by embracing something better, and he figured that was what she’d done.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Love, after all, always said more about those who felt it than it did about the ones they loved.” – Nicholas Sparks
“That’s the thing about being the product of happily married parents. You grow up thinking the fairy tale is real, and more than that, you think you’re entitled to live it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Loving someone and having them love you back is the most precious thing in the world.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You always have a choice. It’s just that some people make the wrong one.” – Nicholas Sparks
“My mom used to tell me that whatever you do, marry someone who loves you more than you love him.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Because in the end, and no matter how hard it is, acceptance helps people move on with the rest of their lives.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Everyone has a past, but that’s just it—it’s in the past. You can learn from it, but you can’t change it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“He’s one of those rare men who, when he loves, he does it with all his heart.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people.” – Nicholas Sparks
“He was a wonderful man. And when a man is that special, you know it sooner than you think possible. You recognize it instinctively, and you’re certain that no matter what happens, there will never be another one like him.” – Nicholas Sparks
“They promised patience when it was easy to be impatient, candor when it was easier to lie, and in their own ways, each recognized the fact that real commitment could be proven only through the passage of time.” – Nicholas Sparks
“My daddy used to tell me that the first time you fall in love, it changes your life forever, and no matter how hard you try, and the feeling never goes away.” – Nicholas Sparks
“That in the end, people should be judged by their actions, since in the end, it was actions that defined everyone.” – Nicholas Sparks
“And though you may call me a dreamer or fool or any other thing, I believe that anything is possible.” – Nicholas Sparks
“But love, I’ve come to understand, is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark in the world.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Instead, he preferred to believe in a God who bestowed all people with gifts and abilities and placed them in an imperfect world; only then was faith tested, only then could faith be earned.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Love meant that you care for another person’s happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.” – Nicholas Sparks
“True love is rare, and it’s the only thing that gives life real meaning.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Love is love, no matter how old you are, and I knew that if I gave you enough time, you’d come back to me.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I don’t know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change you have to love something before you can hate it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Dreams are always crushing when they don’t come true. But it’s the simple dreams that are often the most painful because they seem so personal, so reasonable, and so attainable.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Romance is thinking about your significant other, when you are supposed to be thinking about something else.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there’s nothing to make it last.” – Nicholas Sparks
“The scariest thing about distance is that you don’t know whether they’ll miss you or forget you.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Everyone is always going through tough things, the irony in it is that everyone thinks what they’re going through is just as hard as what you are. Life isn’t about surviving this, it’s about understanding this.” –Nicholas Sparks
“Love means to see the one you love happy.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Love doesn’t mean anything if you’re not willing to make a commitment, and you have to think not only about what you want, but about what he wants. Not just now, but in the future.” – Nicholas Sparks
“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Never forget that God is your friend. And like all friends, He longs to hear what’s been happening in your life. Good or bad, whether it’s been full of sorrow or anger, or even when you’re questioning why terrible things have to happen.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Without suffering, there’d be no compassion.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Every couple needs to argue now and then. Just to prove that the relationship is strong enough to survive. Long-term relationships, the ones that matter, are all about weathering the peaks and the valleys.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Marriage is about compromise; it’s about doing something for the other person, even when you don’t want to.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Everyone makes mistakes, even the persons we love.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Loving once and only once is possible – anything is possible.” – Nicholas Sparks
“It’s possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief…lessens. It may not go away completely, but after a while it’s not so overwhelming.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Being around someone who accepts and supports you will remind you to accept and support yourself.” – Nicholas Sparks
“If you put your trust in God, you’ll be all right in the end.” – Nicholas Sparks
“The truth is, the world isn’t easy for any of us. It never has been and it never will be.” – Nicholas Sparks
“It’s never too late to do the right thing.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Don’t think there are no second chances. Life always offers you a second chance… it’s called tomorrow.” – Nicholas Sparks
“There are guys who grow up thinking they’ll settle down some distant time in the future, and there are guys who are ready for marriage as soon as they meet the right person. The former bore me, mainly because they’re pathetic; and the latter, frankly are hard to find.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Every girl is beautiful. Sometimes it just takes the right guy to see it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“When you chase a dream, you learn about yourself. You learn your capabilities and limitations, and the value of hard work and persistence.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I hadn’t done any of the things that I normally did with girls, yet somehow I’d fallen in love.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Then we’ll find a way to work through all this together because I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You’ve gotten so caught up in being alone that you’re afraid of what might happen if you actually find someone else that can take you away from it.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Marriage is a partnership, not a democracy.” – Nicholas Sparks
“You might not understand, but I gave you the best of me, and after you left, nothing was ever the same.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Love is fragile. And we’re not always its best caretakers. We just muddle through and do the best we can. And hope this fragile thing survives against all odds.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Youth offers the promise of happiness, but life offers the realities of grief.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Life was messy. Always had been and always would be and that was just the way it was, so why bother complaining? You either did something about it or you didn’t, and then you lived with the choice you made.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I know the Lord has a plan for us all, but sometimes, I just don’t understand what the message can be.” – Nicholas Sparks
“It is life, I think, to watch the water. A man can learn so many things.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I may be irresponsible but I am a good irresponsible.” – Nicholas Sparks
“A person can get used to anything if given enough time.” – Nicholas Sparks
“What are we after all our dreams, after all our memories?” – Nicholas Sparks
“Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?” – Nicholas Sparks
“The problem isn’t finding out where you are going to go-it’s figuring out what you are going to do once you get there that is!” – Nicholas Sparks
“Because he’s no better than a spoiled child. You were his toy, and even though he’s got new toys, it doesn’t mean he wants anyone to play with his old toys.” – Nicholas Sparks
“As a girl, she had come to believe in the ideal man — the prince or knight of her childhood stories. In the real world, however, men like that simply didn’t exist.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I am lost without you. I am soulless, a drifter without a home, a solitary bird in a flight to nowhere. I am all these things, and I am nothing at all. This, my darling, is my life without you. I long for you to show me how to live again.” – Nicholas Sparks
“In times of grief and sorrow I will hold you and rock you and take your grief and make it my own. When you cry I cry and when you hurt I hurt. And together we will try to hold back the floods to tears and despair and make it through the potholed street of life.” – Nicholas Sparks
“There are moments when mental overload can render words impossible.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Their fingers seemed to fit together in just the right way- effortlessly clasped, like perfect complements.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Our lives can’t be measured by our final years, of this I am sure.” – Nicholas Sparks
“Women are more attuned to feelings than men are, and if they’re not being truthful, more often than not it’s because they think truth might hurt your feelings. But it doesn’t mean they don’t love you.” – Nicholas Sparks
“I call it God Light, because it reminds me of heaven. Every time the light shines through the window we built or any window at all, you’ll know I’m right there with you, okay? That’s going to be me. I’ll be the light in the window.” – Nicholas Sparks
