Ella > Ella's Quotes

“If wall of oobleck block your way,
don't punch and slap and kick all day,
Just hold your breath and close your eyes
and simply ease yourself inside.
Walk slowly through the dark, don't fear,
For someday you'll be far from here.”
― David Yoon, Frankly in Love

“What do you want from us? The dumb girls are too dumb, the smart girls are too smart, and the average girls are too unexceptional?”
― Cho Nam-Joo, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

“When a woman is assaulted, one of the first questions people ask is, Did you say no? This question assumes that the answer was always yes, and that it is her job to revoke the agreement. To defuse the bomb she was given. But why are they allowed to touch us until we physically fight them off? Why is the door open until we have to slam it shut?”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“You are allowed to be cautious but you don’t always have to be afraid.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“I didn’t know that money could make the cell doors swing open. I didn’t know that if a woman was drunk when the violence occurred, she wouldn’t be taken seriously. I didn’t know that if he was drunk when the violence occurred, people would offer him sympathy. I didn’t know that my loss of memory would become his opportunity. I didn’t know that being a victim was synonymous with not being believed.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“But it bothered me that having a boyfriend and being assaulted should be related, as if I, alone, was not enough...It should have been enough to say, I did not want a stranger touching my body.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“In rape cases it’s strange to me when people say, Well why didn’t you fight him? If you woke up to a robber in your home, saw him taking your stuff, people wouldn’t ask, Well why didn’t you fight him? Why didn’t you tell him no? He’s already violating an unspoken rule, why would he suddenly decide to adhere to reason? What would give you reason to think he’d stop if you told him to? And in this case, with my being unconscious, why were there still so many questions?”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“Little girls don’t stay little forever, Kyle Stephens said. They turn into strong women who return to destroy your world.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“This book does not have a happy ending. The happy part is there is no ending, because I'll always find a way to keep going.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“You have to hold out to see how your life unfolds, because it is most likely beyond what you can imagine. It is not a question of if you will survive this, but what beautiful things await you when you do.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“Awful feelings may remain the same, but my capacity to handle them has grown.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“Denying darkness does not bring anyone closer to the light.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“Whatever past you came from, you don't have to go back.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“For so long I believed history was a thick book you carried around in your backpack, not something you could create.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name: A Memoir

“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.”
― Gloria Steinem

“Once we give up searching for approval we often find it easier to earn respect.”
― Gloria Steinem