IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES

The following quotations are important at various points in the story: (Warner Books, Inc., New York, New York, 1999):

1.) When I was seventeen, my life changed forever.
(pg. xi; Landon opens the book with this observation and prepares the reader for a story about profound change.)


2.) First you will smile, and then you will cry - don't say you haven't been warned.
(pg. xiii; Landon foreshadows the wonderful sadness and joy of his seventeenth year that he's about to relate.)


3.) He wanted us to know . . . that if you put your trust in God, you'll be alright in the end.
(pg. 8; Landon makes this observation about Hegbert, but he will actually learn this lesson himself from Jamie.)


4.) My father, on the other hand, was a stranger, someone I barely knew at all.
(pg. 12; Landon describes the poor relationship he has with his father, a relationship that will later be changed for the better because of Jamie.)


5.) Life, I've learned, is never fair. If people teach anything in school, that should be it.
(pg. 16; Landon shows his basic cynicism when he reflects how his grandfather, a terrible man, nonetheless died an easy death.)


6.) With Jamie, everything was in the Lord's plan.
(pg. 24; Even though Landon is being sarcastic as he describes Jamie Sullivan, he is also, without any knowledge that he's doing so, describing what will save him in the end.)


7.) Jamie helped everyone - she was one of those equal opportunity saints.
(pg. 36; Again, Landon is being sarcastic, but the comment is the truth.)


8.) I'd love to [go to the dance with him], on one condition. You have to promise that you won't fall in love with me.
(pg. 44; Jamie's wry comment is ironic, because that is exactly what Landon does.)


9.) Even with me in the room, I could tell he really loved her and wasn't afraid to show it.
(pg. 51; this comment describes Hegbert's feelings for Jamie.)


10.) I think that all this was in the Lord's Plan somehow. What do you think the message is?
(pg. 52; Jamie asks Landon this, because unbeknownst to him, she is dying and is searching for the meaning of God's Plan for her.)


11.) . . . I kept hearing this little voice inside me that made me wonder about what Eric had said [that Landon liked Jamie].
(pg. 66; Landon is beginning to fall in love with Jamie.)


12.) The next day I spent fourteen hours memorizing my lines, cursing my friends, and wondering how my life had spun so out of control.
(pg. 89; Landon's observation out this point is ironic, because he thinks his life is out of control because of Jamie, but the truth is she is slowly helping him find direction.)


13.) I want to get married, and when I do, I want my father to walk me down the aisle and I want everyone I know to be there. I want the church bursting with people.

(pg. 99; this is Jamie's greatest wish for her future and becomes the one wish Landon will be able to fulfill.)


14.) . . . the sparseness of the room made the whole thing depressing. I couldn't imagine growing up in a place like this.
(pg 105; this is Landon's description of the rec room at the orphanage. It foreshadows how he will help the children later.)


15.) The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was doing the ‘right thing'.
(pg. 110; Landon says this about his reluctance to be in the play or to go to the orphanage with Jamie.)


16.) It just gives me a way to . . . be a part of her. Can you understand that?
(pg. 118; Jamie uses this as her explanation for why she always carries her mother's Bible.)


17.) I promise to make it up to you.
(pg. 129; Landon tells Jamie this as part of his apology for hurting her. He doesn't realize that this statement will bring him even closer to her.)


18.) You're beautiful!
(pg. 135; Jamie's appearance as the angel in the play makes Landon say his line perfectly for the first time, but he is actually sincere as he sees her real beauty for the first time.)


19.) Landon, she said to me after counting it up, this is a miracle!
(pg. 145; Jamie's exclamation about the amount of money in the cans and jars for the orphans isn't just about how wonderful all that money will be for Christmas; it's also about the miracle she recognizes in Landon who secretly has donated the extra money.)


20.) I knew it was like giving a piece of herself away.
(pg. 155; this is Landon's observation when Jamie gives him her Bible for Christmas.)


21.) Do you ever wonder why things have to turn out the way they do?
(pg. 158; Jamie asks Landon this, because she is searching for answers to why she has to die.)


22.) That doesn't mean you can't undo it . . . when you get the opportunity.
(pg. 167; Jamie tells Landon this as a suggestion for a way he can make good for all the bad things his grandfather had done.)


23.) . . . all I can remember about the moment is that when our lips first touched, I knew the memory would last forever.
(pg. 171; Landon describes his first kiss with Jamie.)


24.) Hegbert must have come to the realization that his daughter was growing up and that he was slowly losing her to me. In a way, I hoped that was true.
(pg. 181; this is Landon's mother's explanation for why Hegbert had cried. Ironically, his tears are due to the fact that Jamie is dying.)


25.) You can't be in love with me . . . I'm dying, Landon.
(pg. 190; Jamie finally tells Landon the truth after he tells her he's in love with her.)


26.) I began to pray for a miracle.
(pg. 200; Landon's fear for Jamie and for himself makes him finally turn to God.)


27.) I was running out of time, and my heart was still telling me that there was something more I could do.
(pg. 214; Landon expresses his fear that he won't find the answer to what he needs to do for Jamie before she dies.)

28.) In my mind, it was the first time that God had ever spoken directly to me, and I knew with certainty that I wasn't going to disobey.
(pg. 234; Landon voices this opinion when his parents and Hegbert try to talk him out of marrying Jamie.)


29.) Jamie was not only the angel who saved Tom Thornton, she was the angel who saved us all.
(pg. 235; this is Landon's ultimate description of the woman he loves.)


30.) It was, I remembered thinking, the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make. In every way, a walk to remember.
(pg. 237; this comment comes when Landon sees the effort it takes for Jamie to walk down the aisle. It is the source of the title of the book.)


31.) In front of God and everyone else, I'd promised my love and devotion. In sickness and in health, and I'd never felt so good about anything. It was, I remember, the most wonderful moment of my life.
(pg. 240; Landon observes at the end of the book that he has no regrets about the decision he made to marry Jamie Sullivan.)


32.) . . . there's one thing I still haven't told you: I now believe, by the way, that miracles can happen.
(pg. 240; with this final commentary, Landon ends his story leaving us to wonder if the miracle he prayed for had actually come true.)