Ayleen

“There were special words for me, lurking on the horizon, prepackaged to mark the possible future stages of my existence. I might become a spinster. I might become a crone. I might be a babe or a MILF or ‚childless‘. My brothers, no matter what else might befall them, would remain men. And in the end of it all, if I was lucky, I would become that most piteous of things, an old lady, whom I already understood was a figure everybody felt free to patronize, even children.”
― Zadie Smith

“Who are you?' She said, 'Have you always been like this? Have you just been waiting to happen?”
― Yael van der Wouden, The Safekeep

“In a way, sleep was my closest ally, because it broke time apart. If my existence had been continuous, I wouldn’t have made it.”
― Yasmin Zaher, The Coin

“When I’m sad, I read. I can go on reading for hours. Reading quiets the turmoil I feel inside and brings me peace. Because when I’m immersed in the world of a book, no one can get hurt,”
― Satoshi Yagisawa, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop