Mary

“Just because she's one way doesn't mean you're the other, I try to tell myself. Her beauty doesn't make you ugly. Her intelligence doesn't make you stupid. Her value doesn't make you worthless.”
― Megan Bannen, The Bird and the Blade

“It does hurt, I whispered. It should hurt. She isn't a footnote, she's a person. And she - all the Trojan women - should be memorialised as much as any other person.”
― Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

“I am but paper. Brittle and thin. I am held up to the sun, and it shines right through me. I get written on, and I can never be used again. These scratches are a history. They’re a story. They tell things for others to read, but they only see the words, and not what the words are written upon. I am but paper, and though there are many like me, none are exactly the same. I am parched parchment. I have lines. I have holes. Get me wet, and I melt. Light me on fire, and I burn. Take me in hardened hands, and I crumple. I tear. I am but paper. Brittle and thin.”
― T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea

“You should have told me my cat was a time traveler.”
― Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility