Megan Goldin > Quotes

“To tell you the truth, I don't get how we can almost unanimously agree that murder is wrong, yet when it comes to rape some people still see shades of gray.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“When school kids are shot by a random shooter, nobody asks whether the victims should have taken more precautions. Nobody suggests that maybe the victims should have skipped school that day. Nobody ever blames the victims. So why is it that when women are attacked, the onus is on them?”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“Yes, I have been a victim of a sexual assault. Well, probably several really. Funny how we were conditioned to accept these situations as unpleasant instead of outrageous.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“That’s the thing about mistakes. Not all of them can be fixed.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“When school kids are shot by a random shooter, nobody asks whether the victims should have taken more precautions. Nobody suggests that maybe the victims should have skipped school that day. Nobody ever blames the victims. So why is it that when women are attacked, the onus is on them? “If only she hadn’t walked home alone.” “If only she hadn’t cut through the park.” “If only she’d taken a cab.” When it comes to rape, it seems to me “if only” is used all the time. Never about the man. Nobody ever says “if only” he hadn’t raped her. It’s always about the woman. If only …”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“If every woman who felt afraid called nine-one-one, the switchboard would melt. That is what women live with every day of our lives.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“What happens during a moment of intimacy is complicated and confusing. When we put it under a spotlight in a court of law, we discover that, a lot of the time, there is no black and white. Just shades of gray.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“I guess that’s the world we live in today. A world where accusations sway opinion. A world where evidence doesn’t matter.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“Pretend inferiority and encourage their arrogance.’ Sun Tzu, The Art of War.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“Was it a poor decision for Kelly to walk home in dark? Teenagers routinely make poor decisions. Does that justify them being hurt, or assaulted, or raped? No it does not. A person should be able to walk home, even in the dark, even through an isolated field, and arrive home safely.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“I'm actually in the middle of a barren field of long wild grass. That whoosh you hear is grass swaying in the wind. We forget how loud nature can be when there are no car engines to mask the magical sound of a windblown field.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“I don’t get how we can almost unanimously agree that murder is wrong, yet when it comes to rape some people still see shades of gray.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“Experts now know that when faced with extreme danger from which we can see no way out, humans freeze. Just like lizards freeze in the hope their camouflage will protect them from a predator. That’s why it’s now called the fight, flight, or freeze response.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. —SUN TZU”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“They were like capitalist soldiers in their two-thousand-dollar suits, pressed razor-sharp. Impeccably groomed. You’d think they’d never been touched by perspiration, dirt, or excrement. But no one gets to make the kind of money those four did without tarnishing their soul. Their hands were soft, and clean, and free of calluses. But only because they never touched the blood they spilt.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“There’s no such thing as being an observer. Doing nothing is doing something. Being passive has consequences.”
― Megan Goldin, Stay Awake

“There's an old rule of thumb in prisons. Actually, it's more of a life lesson. Always know what you're walking into. Dark corners can be danger points.”
― Megan Goldin, Dark Corners

“My mother used to tell me that the best revenge is to live well. I couldn’t agree more.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“She once told me that there were too many interesting things to learn in this world to care about what other people thought”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“Now I embraced life. I cherished it and protected it as if it were the sputtering flame of a candle. I couldn't look back. Only forward. Or my life would be unendurable.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“The scarcest resource in the world is time.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“Everyone has roles to play. Sometimes we don’t know it until it’s too late. You were given a choice, Liv. Every choice has a consequence.”
― Megan Goldin, Stay Awake

“Justice is expensive. You’ve got to have serious money if you want to put up a halfway decent defense.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“The scariest monster is the one that hides in plain sight.”
― Megan Goldin, Dark Corners

“If every woman who felt afraid called nine-one-one, the switchboard would melt.”
― Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

“One day she was your best friend and the next she was your mortal enemy.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“Sometimes, when the medication wore off, my memory would come back into focus. I’d remember the injustice. The public humiliation. The way they’d chipped away at my self-esteem until there was almost nothing left of me. The way they’d ruined my future with Kevin. It was during those moments that I thought about revenge. FORTY-FIVE THE ELEVATOR The”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“Sure, Lucy was idiosyncratic, borderline obsessive-compulsive and often immersed in a world of numbers and concepts that were beyond my comprehension. But she was loyal, and that was a rare quality in our line of work.
When I went out with other people from work, we had a great time but the atmosphere crackled with an underlying sense of distrust. I could never let my guard down or relax. I definitely couldn’t confide in them or show any vulnerability. I had to be uber confident. I was constantly under scrutiny. Anything I said or did could, and would, be used against me if it helped them get ahead.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“Men never act grateful; we always complain,” said Sam. “It doesn’t matter how much we’re blown away by the amount, we always look disappointed. Like it’s a major financial blow.”
― Megan Goldin, The Escape Room

“In 1926, after she discovered her husband was having an affair, Christie disappeared. The police dredged the local lake, believing she might have drowned. Thousands of volunteers searched for her in the countryside. Meanwhile, a woman claiming to be a grieving mother from Cape Town checked in at a health spa under a name very similar to the name of the mistress of Agatha Christie’s unfaithful husband. Eventually, one of the guests recognized her as the famous crime writer and alerted the authorities. Christie regained her memory, but she never remembered anything that happened to her during her time at the health spa.”
― Megan Goldin, Stay Awake