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“Fairy tales are full of girls who wait, who endure, who suffer. Good girls. Obedient girls. Girls who crush nettles until their hands bleed. Girls who haul water for witches. Girls who wander through deserts or sleep in ashes or make homes for transformed brothers in the woods. Girls without hands, without eyes, without the power of speech, without any power at all.

But then a prince rides up and sees the girl and finds her beautiful. Beautiful, not despite her suffering, but because of it.

And when I saw that note in my bag, I thought that maybe I was no longer stuck in a fairy tale, maybe I could be the hero of one.”
― Holly Black, The Lost Sisters

“Two paths are before me, but only one leads to victory.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“I only know how to be cruel or to laugh when I am discomposed.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“I feel the stitches holding me together as though I am a rag doll with stuffing trying to leak out.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing