Lillian

“I remember Mum repeatedly telling us we had good hearts and good brains. When she said that we'd say 'thanks' and it might have sounded as if we were thanking her for seeing us that way but actually we were thanking her for giving us whatever goodness was in us.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

“When Enebeli Okwara sent his girl out in the world, he did not know what the world did to daughters. He did not know how quickly it would wick the dew off her, how she would be returned to him hollowed out, relieved of her better parts.”
― Lesley Nneka Arimah, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky

“It’s all so messed up. I think what it is, is that when I was young, my mother was her best version of herself. And here I am, now, a shitty grown-up, and messing it all up, and a disappointment. What imperfect carriers of love we are, and what imperfect givers. That the reasons we can care for one another can have nothing to do with the person cared for. That it has only to do with who we were around that person—what we felt about that person. Here’s the fear: she gave to us, and we took from her, until she disappeared.”
― Rachel Khong, Goodbye, Vitamin

“I was doing fine until you were so ridiculously sweet at just the right times.”
― Sara Farizan, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel