Rachel Harrison > Quotes

“You can't erase your past when there are pieces of it scattered inside other people.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“My problems aren't invalid. Not to me. Just because they aren't life altering, life-threatening, doesn't mean they don't make me feel bad. I wake up with them every morning, carry them around all day like a lead backpack, and I fall asleep with them at night. They're real, and they're mine. I know I'm lucky. I know that. But it doesn't change how I feel.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“What is it about a woman in full control of herself that is so utterly frightening?”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“It isn’t fair that I have to live with this, but I have to live.”
― Rachel Harrison, Such Sharp Teeth

“The world will drive a woman insane, then point at them and laugh.”
― Rachel Harrison, Play Nice

“They're so excited for one day in a pretty dress... someone should really tell them. They can wear a retty dress whenever they want... Women are out there tethering themselves to mediocre men just so they can wear a ball gown. It's a shame.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“But friendships are mercurial. They're shape-shifters. I've learned to allow them to fluctuate and take new forms. I love my friends; that's all that matters.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“I found it interesting that those who believed themselves righteous only ever cared about those who agreed with them, and were keen to let those who didn’t suffer whatever brutal fate. There seemed to me an inherent hypocrisy in faith itself.”
― Rachel Harrison, Black Sheep

“I’d forgotten the difference between choosing not to participate and being excluded.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“He fears because he is small. I will not meet him there. I will not shrink down to his size, or anyone else's, for their comfort, for their appeasement.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“My eyes close, and it’s here. The transcendent knowledge that nothing can touch me. That I’m not in danger, because I am danger.”
― Rachel Harrison, Such Sharp Teeth

“There are many reasons why bad things happen to young women, and at the same time, no reason at all.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“Aging isn’t just about our bodies decaying while we’re still inside them. It’s about living with the accumulation of experiences. The heavy burden of the ugly ones, the longing for the beautiful.”
― Rachel Harrison, So Thirsty

“It’s a miracle and it’s a curse, the secrets our bodies keep. The ability to carry the invisible burden of these secrets.”
― Rachel Harrison, Such Sharp Teeth

“I put my books on the shelves, arranging them alphabetically, only to change my mind and rearrange by color and then again by which books I think would be friends.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“I never realized how much bullshit is bound to the bottom of your hair. How it carries with it the years and experiences, all it has witnessed, has endured. The reason you can’t let go of your past is that it’s still attached. That weight on your shoulders, the strain on your back and neck. It’s your dead ends. Cut your hair! I’m going to scream it from the rooftops and while running down the street, all across America.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“When you’re sad, you cry. When you’re happy, you smile, you laugh. But what do you do when you’re angry? Not just mad, but filled with this ugly, consuming rage?”
― Rachel Harrison, Such Sharp Teeth

“I wondered what the difference was between being told to have faith and to be quiet. I suspected there wasn’t one.”
― Rachel Harrison, Black Sheep

“Some people need conspiracies, finding the simple horror of the truth too brutal.”
― Rachel Harrison, Black Sheep

“I feel like if I say anything bad about my pregnancy, suddenly I’m Casey Anthony.” “That’s crazy,” I say. “You’re way prettier.”
― Rachel Harrison, Such Sharp Teeth

“I wonder how much of a woman's life is spent this way. Enduring. Waiting for enjoyment or, fuck it, death.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“Any step away from the past is a step in the right direction.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“Fate is just another invention to trick us into complacency. Inaction. If one assumes that they cannot change their circumstances, they won’t try.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“But, you'll discover for yourself soon enough the things that devastate us most in the moment are always the things we look back on with such gratitude”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“It’s a nice thing, to cook for yourself. To be good to yourself. To commit to and feed your own happiness.”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“think it’s just easier to call someone crazy than it is to admit that they could be right. Easier to call someone crazy than to confront the nuance of their circumstance, than to accept the callous cruelty that exists in the world we live in, the evil out there that revels in our suffering.”
― Rachel Harrison, Play Nice

“If men aren't teased, their egos get too big. We did society a favor.”
― Rachel Harrison, The Return

“There’s no winning. The trauma is either your fault or it’s a gift. It’s either You should have done this to stop it or Look what good has come of it! If you don’t get over it, why can’t you get over it? Why can’t you get past it or learn how to cope? Or if you do find some way to move on with your life in a socially acceptable manner, then you’re so brave and so strong, and aren’t you amazing? Let’s applaud you for moving forward while there’s a knife at your back.”
― Rachel Harrison, Such Sharp Teeth

“It’s best not to be specific with wishes. Otherwise, you end up getting what you think you want instead of what”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“Remembering is not always a light shone into darkness. Sometimes it’s a claw reaching out and dragging you back.”
― Rachel Harrison, Play Nice