Mae McDermott

“Love is never a sin, and the rules of men who don’t understand that don’t matter.”
― K. Ancrum, Icarus

“His father liked to keep his eyes closed. Icarus needed to keep his eyes open to stay tethered to faith.”
― K. Ancrum, Icarus

“Clack. "I cannot bear the thought of using you."

Pause. "Love and freedom don't coexist,

Warden."

Clack. "This is all there is to love? Simply by being in your life, I have added indelibly to its weight?"

Pause. "Yes."

Clack. "Camilla, I mean it."

Pause. "I meant it too. You used to say it to me."

"We are one flesh." Clack.

"I am your end."

Pause. "That didn't mean I got squatting rights in your soul. I never would have asked for that. I never had rights to that."

Clack. "Sure. That's why I gave them to you."

Clack. Pause. Pause. Pause.

"I hope you know that I adore you, Scholar."

Clack. "Indubitably, Warden.”
― Tamsyn Muir, Nona the Ninth

“This was written by a man named Olaus, you see? Before it could be a book, Olaus had to write down all these words. Probably used a pencil, like this one. Wrote one word at a time, about the tracks of raccoons and bears and wolves and big cats. He even wrote about the tracks a maple leaf makes when it blows across fresh snow. And now this book,” I tapped its cover, “is Olaus’s track. Because of it, we know this guy Olaus was here before us. And he loved animals, and knew all about them. Words are one way we leave tracks in the world, Sol. Maybe one day you will write a book, like Olaus did, or Molly Thorne. And people will read it, like I’ve been reading to you. They will know that you were here, and a little about what you were like.”
― Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse