Helen

“She’s long ago given up wishing that she had a mother who felt things less keenly, who was able to contain her emotions, at least in front of the person who was suffering first-hand. Ever since she was a little girl, Viola had experienced everything twice: when it happened and then when she’d told her mother what happened. The second time was always worse because her mother’s reaction would always reignite Viola’s own pain and then she’d have the extra pain of her mother to contend with too.”
― Menna van Praag, The Patron Saint of Lost Souls: The bewitching novel of getting your heart's desire

“And when people stop focusing on their dreams they become lost in the maze of their minds, wandering around in endlessly repeating circles. Then the colours of life start to dull, and excitement starts to die. Until you’re trapped in a prison of your own making, looking out at life instead of living it.”
― Menna van Praag, Men, Money, and Chocolate

“Even having identified Lust as a ‘defect’, a negative and problematic trait, we don’t automatically discard it. ‘Lust is natural, I’m entitled to lust, if she had sex more I wouldn’t look at porn’, all these justifications are obstacles to change. In justifying our misery we recommit to it.”
― Russell Brand, Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions

“Ned, the thing about seeking forgiveness from someone you’ve hurt is that you’re hurting them again by asking for something else from them. If you’re sorry, say you’re sorry, apologise, let them know you’ve realised the enormity of what you’ve done and won’t do it again, but leave it there. Don’t expect anything else from them. Don’t require them to say they forgive you so you can feel better. Or expect them to move on according to your timetable. Or to even give the whole thing any kind of headspace. Apologise and then leave it. Sit with how you feel about not being forgiven despite how sorry you are. Don’t make it worse.”
― Dorothy Koomson, Tell Me Your Secret