Isabelle D'Costa

“He probably won’t come back, she thinks. Or he will, differently. What they have now they can never have back again. But for her the pain of loneliness will be nothing to the pain that she used to feel, of being unworthy. He brought her goodness like a gift and now it belongs to her. Meanwhile his life opens out before him in all directions at once. They’ve done a lot of good for each other. Really, she thinks, really. People can really change one another. You should go, she says. I’ll always be here. You know that.”
― Sally Rooney, Normal People

“Sir,' I answered, 'a wanderer's repose or a sinner's reformation should never depend on a fellow creature.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“-and that brow professes to say - "I can live alone, if self-respect and circumstance require me to do so. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure within me...”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“My disposition is not so bad as you think. I am passionate, but not vindictive.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre