Sierra

“In retrospect, my inability to put it together was its own sort of gift. I would understand what they were doing soon enough, at which point I would finally understand what I had done to Veronica. Veronica had such a small part in the story and still I loved her more than everyone at Tom Lake put together. She stayed with me after the rest of them had faded, maybe because we remember the people we hurt so much more clearly than the people who hurt us.”
― Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

“But this was no good, this line of thought. This was the thinking that had kept every woman from her greatness. There did not have to be an answer to the question why; everything important started out mysterious and this mystery was like a great sea you had to be brave enough to cross. How many times had I turned back at the first ripple of self-doubt? You had to withstand a profound sense of wrongness if you ever wanted to get somewhere new. So far each thing I had done in Monrovia was guided by a version of me that had never been in charge before. A nitwit? A madwoman? Probably. But my more seasoned parts just had to be patient, hold their tongues - their many and sharp tongues - and give this new girl a chance.”
― Miranda July, All Fours

“Life didn’t just get better and better. You could actually miss out on something and that was that. That was your chance and now it was over.”
― Miranda July, All Fours

“I hate going home, but guilt compels me. It’s not that I hate my family or anything. I just feel very uncomfortable around them and harbor the vague suspicion that they hate me, which isn’t entirely unfounded given that while they’ve been supportive in a material and financial sense, they mostly seem to find my personality, affect, choices, and demeanor to be unpleasant at best.”
― Anna Dorn, Perfume & Pain