Alaa Rabie

“Thing is," he says, his chin resting on my head, "there's no single way to be a badass. Your mother and aunts coming here and making new lives for themselves? Badass. My mother running her own firm even after she and my father divorced? Badass. You facing the obstacles in your path and reinventing yourself in the process? Badass. There's room for different kinds of greatness. Even if you cry doing it. Hell, especially if you cry doing it.”
― Mia Sosa, The Worst Best Man

“if i ever have a daughter, the first thing i will teach her to love will be the word “no” & i will not let her feel guilty for using it.   - “no” is short for “fuck off.”  ”
― Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in this One

“raid your library. read everything you can get your hands on & then some.   go on, collect words & polish them up until they shine like starlight in your palm.   make words your finest weapons— a gold-hilted sword to cut your enemies d o w n.   - a survival plan of sorts.”
― Amanda Lovelace, The Princess Saves Herself in this One

“We squeeze his hand. He squeezes back. You stare up at the same sky together, and after a while he says, I have to go, and you say, Good-bye, and he says Good-bye, Aza, and no one ever says good-bye unless they want to see you again.”
― John Green, Turtles All the Way Down