Rashmi

“The thing you need to realize is this: the game is. never over until it is over. It isn't over ig there is a single pawn still on the board. If one side is down to a pawn and a king, and the other side has every player, there is stil a game. And even if you were a pawn -maybe we all are- then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. It might look small and ordinary but it isn't. Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after an other. and you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“Perhaps the secret was to stop looking for greener grass. Perhaps the secret was to make the best of what you had.”
― Mark Haddon, A Spot of Bother

“Maybe some stories were like jarred butterflies, I thought, fluttering free as soon as someone broke the glass.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress

“... It is not a curse to be confined to water.
Although to an onlooker, the poem argues, a fish might seem trapped in its pond—although to you and I, it may seem to know nothing of the world on land—it is not so. A fish can still admire the reflection of spring clouds on the water. It can still taste the blossoms that dapple its surface and imagine itself swimming among the trees. It understands more than we will ever realize.
His words were so beautiful, so vivid, that I could almost hear that injured fish speaking to me from amidst its suffering: Do not pity me.
My life might be smaller than yours, but it is full of joy and worth living.
Do not assume that I dream of greatness. Do not assume that I wish to be reborn in a different time or a different place, in a different life. I wish only to admire the blossoms in this one.
Do not pity me—for I am exuberant!”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress