Vanessa

“His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what’s necessary to defend a woman.”
― Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

“This may be the fundamental problem with caring a lot about what others think: It can put you on the established path--the my-isn't that-impressive path--and keep you there for a long time.”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming

“I had come to see language as an almost supernatural force, existing between people, bringing our brains, shielded in centimeter-thick skulls, into communion. A word meant something only between people, and life’s meaning, its virtue, had something to do with the depth of the relationships we form.”
― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

“Who needs to read fast? In Nepal, when someone dies, their relatives string garlands of yellow flowers and float them across the sacred river, a bridge to the beyond. This is not assembly-line work. So I read slowly.”
― Stephen Kuusisto, Planet of the Blind