Paula Hawkins Quotes

It's easy to praise God in the good times, but what about when the storms of your flesh are a-brewin'? Not so easy then!

God be thanked for the thinkers of good and noble thoughts! It wakes up all the best in ourselves, to come into close contact with others greater and better in every way than we are.

I wish I could just relax sometimes and make some money, but I always feel like I have to prove some kind of big, profound point.

When I had money, I felt pressure, whether it was to invest it or do good with it, and I couldn't let it fizzle out. It was like I needed to prove to myself that I could look after it, only I did the opposite, but you have to take a chance in life.

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it's the real test of your character and of your faith to say, 'Things are not going our way, but I'm still being good to people; I'm still attending church; I still have a good attitude.'

Fame is a lot of pressure, especially when you're responsible for your entire family. Financially, emotionally - everything.

My best career decision was probably not giving up when I wanted to. God as well as my family and friends were there for me during my toughest times.

It is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.

I was kicked off a record label and didn't get picked up again. It was devastating at first because I thought, 'Oh my God. My career is over. What's gonna happen? What am I going to do?' Once I got that I could have a career, a very good career, without having a hit record, then I changed.

Am I coasting on some early success? Yeah. It was a good lucky break for me. But I would rather earn my way back again than simply conform to what people are expecting.

The couple of years before I was declared bankrupt were the roughest. The bank letters, the pressure, the stress was awful. You're in this twilight zone of not knowing where your life is going, and yet you're in Westlife. Everything was great with the band. I was earning money, and it looked good.

I really want to feel that I'm in a very balanced and good place in my life. And I do feel that. But I think it's always important to learn and draw little bits of inspiration from wherever we can.

I think the kids in school that laughed at the clothes that we wore and the house that we lived in, and then my mother had to cut hair... I think that was a good motivator. Every time they laughed at me, they just built a fire, and there was only one way to put it out - to try and show 'em I was as good as they were.

I've always been ambitious to be very good at what I do.

I didn't have any money. I had a sense of terrible loss. But what I also had was a fire in my belly. I wasn't going to go back to waiting tables. I felt I had to be better at fronting a band.

Pressure can be good. It helps you to see what you're all about.

I got even with all the bad management I had by being a good manager.

God doesn't want us to merely sit around dreaming about things we can do and be. That's a good place to start, but a poor place to stop. God wants us to turn our dreams into action.

I first thought about becoming a writer after the age of 30, which is rather late, I'd say. In my 20s, I wasn't especially good at anything, and I didn't have a lot of experiences. I was just a young woman without a good job.

Everyone hits bottom their own way.

So struggling for work here has been very good for me, but it's also been very hard to handle rejection.

It feels good when guys reach out to be inspired - and you have shown people an example of how you can come back and be better than you were before when adversity strikes; and when the world predicts the opposite, you show them you not only can be successful but be great.

Work hard, take care of yourself, and you'll be just fine.

I always say, and I mean it, that the great break of my literary career was when I went to law school.

After the failure in '92, my goal was to be a good pole vaulter. I used that as motivation.