The Notebook
Quotes from the Book
I finally understood what true love meant...love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all. Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there's nothing to make it last.
I fell in love with her when we were together, then fell deeper in love with her in the years we were apart.
I love you, not just for now, but for always, and I dream of the day that you’ll take me in your arms again.
When I look in the mirror, I know I’m looking at someone who isn’t sure she deserves to be loved at all.
Passion is passion. It's the excitement between the tedious spaces, and it doesn't matter where it's directed...It can be coins or sports or politics or horses or music or faith...the saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all.
In our time together, you claimed a special place in my heart, one I'll carry with me forever and that no one can ever replace.
I'd learned that some things are best kept secret.
And for the briefest instant, it almost feels like we're together again.
I'm going to marry you one day, you know." "Is that a promise?" "If you want it to be.
Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there’s nothing to make it last.
There are moments when i wish i could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but i have a feeling that if i did, the joy would be gone as well. So i take the memories as they come, accepting them all, letting them guide me whenever i can.
Love should bring joy, it should grant a person peace, but here and not, it was bringing only pain.
But...as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse--a lot worse-- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it.
I love you, Savannah, and I always will," I breathed. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. You were my best friend and my lover, and I dont regret a single moment of it. You made me feel alive again, and most of all, you gave me my father. I'll never forget you for that. You're always going to be the very best part of me. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but I have to leave, and you have to see your husband." As I spoke, I could feel her shaking with sobs, and I continued to hold her for a long time afterward. When we finally seperated, I knew that it would be the last time I ever held her. I backed away, my eyes holding Savannah's. "I love you, too, John," she said. "Good-bye." I raised a hand.
We’d met at a carefree time, a moment full of promise, in its place now were the harsh lessons of the real world.
You have no idea how much the last few days have meant to me," I began. "Meeting you has been the best thing that's ever happened to me." I hesitated, know that if I stopped now, I'd never be able to say it to anyone. "I love you," I whispered. "Did you ever imagine something like this?" she wondered aloud. "You and me , I mean?" "No," I said. "It scares me a little." My stomach flipped, and all at once, I was sure she didnt feel the same way. "You dont have to say it back to me," I began. "That's not why I said it--" "I know," she interrupted. "You don't understand. I wasnt scared because you told me. I got scared because I wanted to say it, too: I love you, John.
love means to see the one you love happy
And then I feel as if I'm witnessing a miracle, as ever so slowly she raises her face towards the moon. I watch her drink in the sight, sensing the flood of memories she's unleashed and wanting nothing more than to let her know I'm here. But instead I stay where I am and stare up at the moon as well. And for the briefest instant, it almost feels like we're together again.
Part of me aches at the thought of her being so close yet so untouchable, but her story and mine are different now. It wasn't easy for me to accept this simple truth, because there was a time when our stories were the same, but that was six years and two lifetimes ago.
You're a hero and a gentleman, you're kind and honest, but more than that, you're the first man I ever truly loved. And no matter what the future brings, you always will be, and I know that my life is better for it.
Being in love, I find myself smiling for no reason at all...
No matter where it is in the sky... No matter where you are in the world... the moon is never bigger than your thumb. -John
When I think of you and me and what we shared, I know it would be easy for others to dismiss our time together as simply a by-product of the days and nights we spent by the sea, a "fling" that, in the long run, would mean absolutely nothing. Thats why I don't tell people about us. They wouldn't understand, and I don't feel the need to explain, simply becasue I know in my heart how real it was... how real this is. When I think of you I cant help smiling, knowing that you've completed me somehow. I love you, not just for now, but for always, and I dream of the day that you'll take me in your arms again
I've been burdened by questions I've asked myself a thousand times since the last time we were together. Why did I do it? And would I do it again? It was I, you see, who ended it.
Regrets about the journey, maybe, but not the destination.
Did you know?
- Nicholas Sparks drew inspiration for the story from the real-life experiences of his cousin Todd Vance, who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
- The novel was Sparks's eleventh book.
- The story is structured in part around letters exchanged between the two main characters during John's military service.
- John's father in the novel is portrayed with traits associated with Asperger's syndrome, and his coin collection is central to the plot.
- The book was adapted into a 2010 film starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried.
About Nicholas Sparks
More by Nicholas Sparks
All books by Nicholas Sparks →About the book
"Dear John" is a romance novel by Nicholas Sparks that follows John Tyree, a rebellious young man who drops out of school and enlists in the U.S. Army. While home on leave, he meets Savannah Curtis, a college student, and over one summer the two fall deeply in love. When John's tour keeps them apart, they sustain their relationship through letters, planning a future together once his service ends.
The novel turns on the strain that long separation places on young love. After the September 11 attacks, John feels duty-bound to re-enlist, extending the distance between them, and Savannah eventually writes the "Dear John" letter that gives the book its title. Alongside the central romance, Sparks weaves in John's difficult relationship with his father, a quiet, routine-bound man whose coin-collecting obsession and social remoteness John comes to understand in a new light.
Published in 2006, "Dear John" became a New York Times bestseller and one of Sparks's most widely read books, later adapted into a popular 2010 film. Like much of his work, it explores themes of sacrifice, duty, and the way love endures even when circumstances make it impossible, and it draws emotional weight from the choices its characters make between the people they love and the obligations they feel they cannot abandon.
Key characters
- John TyreeA rebellious young man who enlists in the U.S. Army and narrates the story
- Savannah CurtisA college student John falls in love with during his summer leave
- Bill TyreeJohn's reserved, coin-collecting father, whose remoteness John slowly comes to understand
- Tim WheddonA family friend connected to Savannah's later life
Book details
- First published
- 2006
- Length
- 276 pages
- Reading time
- 5 hours
- Author
- Nicholas Sparks
- Genre
- Fiction
- Goodreads rating
- 4.04 (622k ratings) →
Movie & TV adaptations
- IMDb
If you liked this, read…
- 1The NotebookAnother Nicholas Sparks romance about enduring love tested by time and circumstance
- 2A Walk to RememberSparks romance centered on love, sacrifice, and loss
- 3Message in a BottleSparks novel exploring grief and love communicated through letters
Keep reading
Memories
Message in a Bottle
P.S. I Still Love You
Nights in Rodanthe
The Notebook
Lullabies
First Love
The Universe of Us
The Love That Split the World
Forever Night Stand
Light in the Shadows
People We Meet on Vacation
One Day in December
Find You in the Dark
Swear on This Life
Sweethearts
My Name Is Memory
The Paris Wife
Loving Mr. Daniels
True Love Story
Sweet Thing
The Woman He Loved Before
This Lullaby
I Wrote This For You
The Gravity of Us
Where One Goes
Matched
Happy Place
Every Summer After
Me Before You
Just for the Summer
The End of the Affair
Love the One You're With
Norwegian Wood
P.S. I Love You
Full Tilt
Shades of Earth
Love, in English
A Thousand Pieces of You
The Air He Breathes
Second Chance Boyfriend
It's Not Summer Without You
Something Borrowed
Confess
Eve
We'll Always Have Summer
The Edge of Never
Allegiant
The Way We Fall
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Cross My Heart
Stepbrother Dearest
A Thousand Letters
Memorizing You
The Perfect Game
When It Rains
Never Never: Part Two
The Elite
When We Collided
What I Loved

