Maddy

“To be something, to have status in society, to be born at the centre of things, to live through momentous times, to be part of the world’s anthology of stories - if only in the gap between the lines, between the words, between the letters, or even in the minute blank space inside the lower-case ‘e’, just once in that dauntingly long book; could there be any more human desire than that? Don’t we all long to be something, to feel that we exist, that others notice our existence, for the brief space of time that we are here?”
― Sjón, Codex 1962

“You are a woman, and must begin to live like one. By which I mean: have courage.”
― Sarah Perry, The Essex Serpent

“Keep away from the literal-minded folk, and ignore the scoffers.”
― Philip Pullman, The Secret Commonwealth

“That’s what winter is: an exercise in remembering how to still yourself then how to come pliantly back to life again.”
― Ali Smith, Winter