Maria

“Love was not something, I realized, that came to you from outside. I had always thought that love
was supposed to come from other people, and somehow, I was failing to catch the crumbs of it, failing to eat them, and I went around belly
empty and desperate. I didn't know the love was supposed to come from within me, and that as long as I loved others, the strength and warmth of that love would fill me, make me strong.”
― Rufi Thorpe, Margo's Got Money Troubles

“I didn't think I would ever find a man, other than my father, who truly understood me. Who would see the way I look at the world, what reading means to me, how I wonder about everything. Someone who would see the best version of me, and make me believe I could be that person." Sylvie blinked several times, as if trying to hold back tears. Her hands were fists at her sides. "I thought that type of love was a fairy tale. I thought that kind of man didn't exist. Which meant I got to feel good about the fact that I had a dream and yet could be safe with my sisters.”
― Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful

“You are a rose bush left out in the wild, scraping for survival. You have fought for everything you have, and you thrive on the struggle. You’re called to it. The harder things are, the better you get.”
― Denise Grover Swank, Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies

“In high school, I was a popular kid, but it was a tireless campaign on my part. Always striving to be in the right place, to make people laugh, to be a good dancer, to throw the best parties, to drink more, to smoke everything being passed around, to drop acid, to befriend the beautiful girls so that I might be mistaken for a ladies’ man, to keep my grades up, to say yes to everyone, always. I don’t know if I was aware of how hard I was trying, but somewhere in me, I sensed that if I ever stopped performing, even for a moment, the audience would leave; so, in a way, I left first. It never occurred to me that they’d remained in their seats.”
― Alejandro Varela, The Town of Babylon