Emma Mercer

“Running might take her forward, it could even take her home; but it couldn't take her back–not ten minutes, ten hours, not ten years or days. And that was tough, as Hely would say. Tough: since back was the way she wanted to go, since the past was the only place she wanted to be.”
― Donna Tartt, The Little Friend

“All the love in the world in the world is useless when there is a total lack of understanding.”
― Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice

“I will never stop grieving for my long-held wish for enduring love that does not reduce its major players to something less than they are.”
― Deborah Levy, The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography

“When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous