thalie

“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me. Please. Please let me help you.”
― Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale

“It is a cruel task, to frighten people in God’s name.”
― Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale

“And empty words are evil.”
― Homer, The Odyssey

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you.”
― Jane Austen, Persuasion