"Sometimes we hold on to guilt or grief because it‘s the last thing we have that ties us to the person we miss. We don‘t want to let them go, because it feels like we‘ll have nothing left. But it‘s dangerous Ethan, the never letting go because until you let go, you can‘t begin to remember. And if you don‘t cherish your memories of Kacey, then she really will be gone.”
"Again. They wanted her to kill Adolf Hitler again."
"Lets get some things straight - your gender is how you feel in your head, as opposed to what's between your legs."
“She has spent most of the day reading and is feeling rather out of touch with reality, as if her own life has become insubstantial in the face of the fiction she's been absorbed in.”
"We are tiny figures, pointing at wonders, provided for scale, no lives of our own, surveying the landscape that has engulfed us all."
“Seriously? That's what you think I should be relegating my brain space to? Looking nice? Like, if I don't make the effort to look beautiful, my entire existence is nullified? Nothing else matters-not my intellect, not my personality or my accomplishments; my hopes and dreams mean nothing if I'm not wearing eyeliner?”
"Humans exceed themselves when they open their minds to discovery . . . when we immerse ourselves in the wonders of curiosity, rather than moving straight towards the goal we've chosen. Toward the goal we imagine is most important, because it's the one we can see. When we allow ourselves to explore, we discover destinations that were never on our map."
“My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There‘s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.”
“People in town didn't understand Anna and largely believed her to be godless, a designation she rather enjoyed because she understood that in their community, to be godless was to have a mind of one's own.”
“One step at a time, one day at a time, just today, just this day to get through.”
“You told me once you forget you are a woman, and I understand it now – you think to be a woman is to be weak – you think ours is a sisterhood of suffering! Perhaps so, but doesn‘t it take greater strength to walk a mile in pain than seven miles in none?
You are a woman and must begin to live like one. By which I mean: have courage.”
“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”
“Stella's father hesitated. "Georgia supports me, but she was a mite trembly this morning. I brought Stella though." He squeezed her shoulders affectionately. "I don't want to just tell her about bravery--I want to show her what it looks like.”
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."
"Reckless white boys became politicians and bankers, reckless black boys became dead."
"We are innocent.
Please help us be free.
We can't live without hope."
"Once upon a time my life was a fairy tale and then I was stolen from everything I've ever loved. There was no happily ever after."
"School library . . . where he read books as enthusiastically as some children eat."
"Marginalized women don't need other people to speak for them. They need the mic to speak for themselves. If you don't see someone that looks like you in mainstream feminism, you can - and should - absolutely speak up for yourself or encourage others to speak up. Find your own feminism."
"I hated poetry until someone showed me how to appreciate it. He told me to see poetry as a puzzle. It's up to the reader to decipher the code, or the words, based on everything they know about life and emotions."
"The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count"
“Love doesn't need to last a lifetime for it to be real. You can't judge the quality of a love by the length of time it lasts."
“You're a prefect? Oh Ronnie! That's everyone in the family!"
"What are Fred and I? Next door neighbours?”
"Tom raised his eyebrows. “Master Benedict keeps cannon fuse?” “We use it to light things from far away,” I said. “You know,” Tom said, “things you have to light from far away probably shouldn‘t be lit at all.”
“...I don't expect to need rescuing. I'm not that kind of princess.”
"Grief is for times when people aren't trying to kill you. Anger keeps you alive."
"He said nothing: seldom do those who are silent make mistakes."
