gabi

“That’s all of life. All we can hope for. You mustn’t think about the fact that it might end, because then you live like a coward, you never love too much or sing too loudly. You have to take it for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Friends

“But if you happen to be a man, sometime in the future and you've made it this far, please remember: You will never be subject to the temptation or feeling you must forgive a man as a woman. It's difficult to resist, believe me. But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest. Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom. Who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lay down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who CAN do what to whom and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale