Lisa Sim

“I don’t know why we women believe that sacrificing our desires makes us more attractive to men. What on earth are we thinking? That someone who goes without her wishes deserves to be loved more than she who follows her dreams? It’s exactly what I thought. The more I sacrificed, the happier I was. The longer I went without, the stronger was my hope that Lothar would give me what I needed. I believed that if I didn’t ask for anything, made no reproaches, didn’t demand my own room or my own money, didn’t cause any arguments, the miracle would come to pass. That he would say, Oh, how much you have sacrificed! How my love for you has grown, because you sacrificed yourself for me! How crazy that was. I was so proud of myself and my capacity for suffering: I wanted to be perfect at it. The more complete my uncomplaining acquiescence became, the greater his love would one day be. And my greatest abnegation - renouncing my own life - would have secured me his undying love. Does love have to be earned through suffering?”
― Nina George, The Little French Bistro

“There is something incredibly relaxing about Africa to me. Americans are always moving, always going somewhere, even if they have nothing important to do when they get there. In Africa, you’re generally home with your family, telling stories, making fun of one another, laughing.”
― Sandra Uwiringiyimana, How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child

“Where is it written that lives should have a meaning?”
― Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child

“I'm too young to not set my life on fire, I'm too old to not spend my time with somebody I really admire.”
― Timothy Goodman, I Always Think It's Forever: A Love Story Set in Paris as Told by an Unreliable but Earnest Narrator