Jean-Marie

“That is what exile meant: no one was coming, no one ever would. There was fear in that knowledge, but after my long night of terrors it felt small and inconsequential. The worst of my cowardice had been sweated out. In its place was a giddy spark. I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. I stepped into those woods and my life began.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“If I were valuable to anyone, I would not be allowed to live alone.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“He knew what he was experiencing was a basic error in programming, and he wished he could open up his brain and delete the bad code. Unfortunately, the human brain is every bit as closed a system as a Mac.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“My Dad says that people like that {ignorant about other countries and cultures} are not truly horrible; they just need a geography class, a passport, and a few foreign friends.”
― Firoozeh Dumas, It Ain't So Awful, Falafel