Alice

“Words can do anything,” she said. “A kind word can fix a person’s spirit. A cruel one can break a person’s heart. Wicked words have caused wars, and honest words have made peace. Why shouldn’t they be able to heal?”
― Lynda Cohen Loigman, The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

“Here’s the thing: I really don’t understand why love has been so hard for me. I am pretty. I am smart. I have a goodish job. I have friends. I have hobbies. I am funny. I am self-actualized. I dress well. I don’t have particularly high standards. I am not expecting to be rescued. I am realistic about what relationships are like. I know they take work. I know nobody is perfect, let alone myself. I know I have to “put myself out there” and I have been doing that. I am a good conversationalist. I am happy on my own. I am. But, like, I still want a relationship. I really want a relationship. Not because I think it will complete me or solve all my problems. Not because I want a big wedding and to look pretty in an expensive dress. Not even, really, because I want to have children because, if I had to, I could survive not having them. I want a relationship because it’s a really normal and natural thing to want. And yet, it’s not been happening for me. It’s so exhaustingly hard. I don’t understand why it’s so hard...”
― Holly Bourne, Pretending

“He had said something like, "why don't people ever say anything real?" And now he knew why. Because to say anything real was to say things that nobody wanted to know. Or if they wanted to know, they would not care in the right way. Or even understand. It was a private thing to be alive. He understood this now.”
― Elizabeth Strout, The Things We Never Say

“Over the previous two decades, we’d come to love each other, but it was a particular, conditional sort of love, one based on circumstance and courtesy rather than connection and compatibility.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Two Women Walk into a Bar