Sisters Sibling Rivalry Quotes

“In truth, I did not have to wonder. She would be feeling that disturbing mixture of emotions that she always summoned from me: admiration and envy, pride and a furious rivalry, a longing to see a beloved sister succeed, and a passionate desire to see a rival fall.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl

“Solidarity was admirable; loyalty was the person standing next to you when the devil came to call.”
― Suzanne E. Anderson, Mrs. Tuesday's Departure

“Sometimes opposites attract, or so they say, but Paloma and Rocío were like arroz and mangú: they didn’t really mix well.”
― Raquel Cepeda, Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina

“I thought a polished appearance and stellar behavior would be the passport to belonging. And when I inevitably failed at perfection, I could at least wilfully do everything in my power to be kicked out before anyone left me.”
― Mary H.K. Choi, Yolk

“Now, glancing over...as she knelt with her eyes closed, her fingertips touching and pointed to Heaven, and her lips shaping soft words of devotion, I had to pinch myself to keep in mind that I was sitting next to the Devil's Hairball.”
― Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

“No one else in the world could strike a nerve in [her] quite like her sister.”
― Andrea Lochen, Versions of Her

“It’s not at all what I thought it would be. Nothing is. No matter how much I love it, it doesn’t love me back. If I weren’t so broken, it would fit. I feel like I don’t have a home.”
― Mary H.K. Choi, Yolk

“Having a sister who tried to act like the Virgin Mary was not easy for a girl who felt as Ramona did.”
― Beverly Cleary, Ramona and Her Father

“She ran a streak of foundation under each eye, highlighter down the bridge of her nose, and bronzer beneath each cheekbone—a layer of armor before battle. Because that’s what these parties were to her, a war on all the heartbreaking boys in the San Francisco Bay Area.”
― Jessica Taylor, A Map for Wrecked Girls

“It was Colomba who had coined the nickname stecchetto, little toothpick, for Livia, because she was so scrawny. She had filled out a little since her sixteenth birthday, but she would never have Colomba's curves.
Then she saw Enzo was getting up from his place and coming toward her. She turned away. He did not stop, but as he passed her he whispered, "I was right the first time, when I called you an angel. Because surely only an angel could cook like that."
"Save your flattery for whoever wins the beauty contest," she said. But she flushed with pleasure despite herself, and when she saw Colomba Farelli looking at her with daggers in her eyes, it was nice to be able to smile sweetly in return.”
― Anthony Capella, The Wedding Officer

“Na segunda-feira seguinte, na fábrica, todos já sabiam. Marfiza era um diabo-espalha-fatos, que inferno. Quando ouvi o primeiro comentário na fábrica, fiquei com um vermelho-roxo no rosto. Ela jamais seria capaz de enxergar. Se estivesse na minha frente, faria escorrer do pescoço dela. Boca aberta. Futriqueira. Venenosa. Rouba-vida. Mexeriqueira. Língua de escorpião. Maldosa. Ressentida. Vilipendiadora. Sonsa.”
― PAULO SALVETTI, Cara Marfiza,

“It's been forever since we watched Friends. Besides, you're the one who made me sit through that show."
"Because if it was up to you, we would've watched Bewitched reruns every night."
"I Love Lucy," Alisha muttered.
"And you say you're not a boomer."
"Whatever. You're just bitter my mind is more sophisticated than yours and didn't immediately make the leap year to pop culture when I met Quentin."
"Oh, okay." Simone crossed her arms, and the gold cuff on her wrist flashed in the sunlight. "You're gonna stand there and tell me you and your minion Meg haven't been dropping Jurassic Park references since he showed up?"
Tongue in her cheek, Alisha scowled. "I hate you so much."
"Behold, my sister the meganerd." Cackling, Simone struck a Vanna White pose.”
― Chandra Blumberg, Digging Up Love

“Since the picture is supposedly PG..."
"How do you even know there is a picture?"
"Are you going to share it or leave it to my imagination?"
With a petty smirk, Alisha said, "I'll take door number two."
"Oh, girl, c'mon."
"Nuh-uh, nope. You took the wrong approach." Alisha kept the phone pressed to her chest. "Maybe one day you'll learn: shock and awe can't win every campaign.”
― Chandra Blumberg, Digging Up Love

“You always want to blame the person who gets hurt instead of the one who does the hurting. I guess that means you think I knew you when you were hooking up with Harland Henson behind my back?"
I let this long-held secret come tumbling out, one of many wounds Bitsy delivered during childhood. "My first boyfriend stolen by my only sister. How much more Jerry Springer does it get? You'd have taken Fisher too, if he had let you. I know all about how you tried to kiss him while I was getting dressed for prom.”
― Julie Cantrell, Perennials

“I always hoped you'd outgrow the whole sibling-rivalry thing. Whatever it is that keeps you at each other's throats, I wish you'd both just let it go."
"In all honesty, Mother, an apology would do wonders, but Bitsy has never apologized for anything in her entire life."
She pauses, weighing her words. "People don't always say they're sorry, Lovey. You have to find a way to move on without it."
Mother begins to make my bed, and I hurry to help. "Kind of hard to let something go when it's still happening."
She draws her lips into a tight frown, as if I'm the greatest disappointment of her life. "You think you're the only one who has ever been hurt?" She snaps the pillow to fluff it in its case, clearly convinced her own pain far exceeds my own.
"That's not what I'm saying." I place three pillow shams. She resets them. "Of course I'm not the only one who has ever been hurt. But it's a little different when you're betrayed by someone you love, and even worse when she does it on purpose. You don't know how that feels.”
― Julie Cantrell, Perennials

“Bitsy seems unimpressed, even when I describe the big campaign.
"You sound like Whitman," she says, slow and monotone. "Work, work, work."
I don't react. Instead, I reply by asking about her husband, Whitman Strayer II, a med-school dropout turned venture capitalist who now helps Oxford's elite decide what to do with all their money.
"He's fine." She adds nothing more.
"Still traveling a lot? Last I heard he was partnering with investors in Atlanta? Birmingham? Dallas? Looking for start-ups."
"Yep. As I said, he's fine." She gives me a glance that warns me to back off, so I turn my attention back to the landscape, eager to drink in every gift Mississippi offers.
Behind the picnic table, a batch of invasive kudzu has crept in from a steep ravine. With no natural balance to keep it in check, the Asian species now abuses its power, growing thick, leafy webs across everything in reach. Even the trees with the deepest roots have fallen victim to this vicious vine.
As Bitsy's words echo, I wonder what lesson the kudzu wants to teach me. Have I, too, done better in foreign soil, opting to go far from the challenging conditions of home? Have I been able to thrive out there in Arizona, living without any real competition? Or am I nothing more than a wayward transplant, an aimless seed taking more than my fair share?”
― Julie Cantrell, Perennials

“Who are you texting?" She says this more as a threat than a question. Then she leans over, reads my screen. "Is that Fisher?"
I have not come home to cower to Bitsy's bullying again. This time I draw the line. "Your brazen disrespect of my personal boundaries continues with age, I see.”
― Julie Cantrell, Perennials

“I didn't know if you were still living... in sin. I didn't want a bad influence in his life."
I spoke past the growing lump in my throat. "I'm not a monster. Just because I naively fell in love with a semi-divorced man doesn't mean I would have harmed your son. Jesus! You'd think I spent most of my life on death row by the way you talk about me when I've never seen the inside of a jail. Unlike Warren Sr.!"
To this day, I have no idea why I had to tack on that part about Marvina's deceased husband. It was petty, but seeing as we were already wallowing in the muddy puddles of our past, what difference did it make?
"He wasn't a jailbird," Marvina spat back. "He only went in once for a ticket he didn't pay before the deadline." She opened the oven and slid the onion skins inside next to the peppers.
"Don't I know this already. I hope the forty dollars of mine that you put toward his bail served the both of y'all well.”
― Michelle Stimpson, Sisters with a Side of Greens

“If you want Calum dead, why don't you kill him yourself?"
"The Old One made me the healer," Phoebe argued. "She didn't give me your skills."
Brigid felt her temper rising. "So my job is to kill while you keep your hands clean? How convenient."
Phoebe's heart sank. There was so much at stake and Brigid was making it all about her again. "I can't believe this. You're not going to do anything because you're still jealous of me?"
"Excuse me? What?"
Phoebe instantly knew she'd pushed it too far. She'd shone a spotlight on something that should have stayed hidden. "I'm sorry," she hurried to say.
"Fuck you," Brigid responded. "Here's a little tip, princess. If you want someone to do your dirty work, it's best not to insult them.”
― Kirsten Miller, The Women of Wild Hill

“We both know Mom wouldn't be dead if you had listened to me and killed Calum when you had the chance."
Brigid froze. She couldn't even feel herself breathing. She hadn't thought her sister capable of such a low blow. "How can you say that?"
"You wouldn't listen because you've always been jealous. You hate that the Old One made you the evil sister."
Evil wasn't a word they'd been allowed to use growing up. It was a slap in the face.”
― Kirsten Miller, The Women of Wild Hill

“When I was eleven, Bessie revealed that my daughter will be The Third. I told Mom. She knew the truth."
The two of them had kept a secret from her. "And you guys didn't tell me?"
"Of course not! You were always so needy. We didn't want to give you another thing to complain about. But now you know. I'll have a daughter someday. And you won't. The Duncan line passes through me."
Brigid couldn't have cared less. What hurt was knowing her sister was trying to injure her. Her anger flared up to fight the cold creep of sorrow. "So you went ahead and left Mom alone on Wild Hill even though you knew she wasn't safe?"
"It's not my fault!" Phoebe shouted, though she was no longer so sure.”
― Kirsten Miller, The Women of Wild Hill

“Ivy was only a little older than you when Rose died," Flora had reminded her daughters. "She still misses her sister."
"She wasn't cursed with the Bride of Frankenstein here," Phoebe muttered.
"Fuck you," Brigid sneered. "You're not nearly as perfect as you think, Princess Buttercup.”
― Kirsten Miller, The Women of Wild Hill

“We'll probably have to kill him."
"Fine by me," Brigid replied. "While I'm gone, why don't you two figure out which one of you is going to do the honors?"
"Funny," Phoebe said.
"Wasn't joking," Brigid told her.”
― Kirsten Miller, The Women of Wild Hill