Ernesta

“He will never be able to explain how he dares to do this, but perhaps you get tired of being frightened if you've been frightened long enough.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown

“Fighting isn't hard. It's the starting and stopping that are hard. Once you're actually fighting, it happens more or less instinctively. The complicated thing about fighting is daring to throw the first punch, and then, once you've won, refraining from throwing the vey last one.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown

“All their lives, girls are told that the only thing they need to do is their best. That that will be enough, as long as they give everything they’ve got. When they themselves become mothers, they promise their daughters that it’s true, that if we just do as well as we can, if we’re honest and work hard, look after our family and love each other, then everything will be all right. Everything will be fine, there’s nothing to be frightened of. Children need the lie to be brave enough to sleep in their beds; parents need it to be able to get up the next morning.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown

“That wears a person down in the end. It’s not always obvious, because the people around a bullied child assume that he or she must get used to it after a while. Never. You never get used to it. It burns like fire the whole time. It’s just that no one knows how long the fuse is, not even you.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown