Holly Bodger > Quotes

“I do need to remind you
there is no point in being fair
to others
if you've forgotten to be fair
to yourself.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“A man is measured
not by the answers he finds
but the questions he asks.
Find an answer
and you stand still.
Stop asking questions
and you die.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Nani’s allegiance is to her anger
and
anger
runs deeper than blood and skin.
It’s set in bone
and bone, once broken,
never
heals the same.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Obedience is fickle that way. It's a virtue to its master but a vice to its slaves.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Do not let anger over the past become the fuel that fire your future”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“I want
a future.
a choice.
a place other than here.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“This was the part the president left out of her speech this morning. She said that everyone in the old country got rid of their baby girls, but this is a lie. The rich could afford to pay the steep fines and the poor weren't afraid to hide them in places the officials didn't want to look. The president doesn't want to remind people of this. She wants them to believe that obedience is the only option. Like all leaders, her reign depends on it.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“No, we cannot change
the mistakes we’ve left behind.
But there’s one thing we can do—
one thing I must do—
we can choose not
to repeat them.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“...you see what you want
and you want what you see,
but if I have anything to say about it,
that will
never
be
me.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“We girls watch from our boxes like orchids in a greehouse. Sheltered from the past. Blinded to the future.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“You can only give away that which is yours to lose.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“They will tell her I won't fit in. Then, they will remind her of her duty as a girl. They will think for her as they always do because that's the point of these tests. If they could trust the girls to choose wisely on their own, we wouldn't have to be here. Would we? Or is it the opposite? Perhaps the families have always chosen for them and the key is to let the girls decide for themselves?”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Power of a stallion, and the innocence of a foal...”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Instead of fixing things, of making changes, of making improvements, all they'e done has been to break them in reverse.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“We're told to plug our noses
to escape the smells.
Manure.
Rot.
Poverty?
Reality.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“They've been promised a full stomach for their success, a noose for their failure...”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“You can't make a zebra by painting stripes on a horse.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“this is neither a game of choice nor a life of choice. It's one of influence: Hers. And one of acceptance: Mine.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Better to play fair for a life of hate than cheat for a life of love”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Piercing my eyes with a look so convincing he could tell me to jump off Agnimar Cliff and my only question would be
Should I go head- or feetfirst?”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“We open our desire for a bright future to your hearts”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Have to wait my turn.
Have to follow the rules.
Have to smile like I agree.
Have to
Have to
Have to
Have to
Choose him.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Mummy gasps. Papa laughs.
I suck in my lips,
trapping a smile
in my cheeks
like a firefly in a jar.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“The president is not at all like the powerful icon I imagined her to be. She’s more like I remember Amma: small and delicate with a sari that dances behind her as she walks. Of course, the president is clad in white, the color that shows eternal mourning of a lost child, while Amma never wore white. She wore reds and oranges and deep greens. Colors of celebration, of happiness. Perhaps she wears white now. Now that I am dead to her.”
― Holly Bodger

“My words are like Mummy: butterflies trapped inside a net.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“She wants them to believe that obedience is the only option. As is the case with all leaders, her reign depends on it.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1

“Some of the families starve themselves so they can fatten up their sons before their tests. This is like the market vendors who display their fruit shiny side up.”
― Holly Bodger, 5 to 1