Echo

“You will tell people that you did not raise me to be an angry woman, and that statement will be correct. I was never allowed to be angry, was I? My ability to discover and understand the power of my own raging was a thing denied to me. Until, at last, I learned to stop denying myself.”
― Kelly Barnhill, When Women Were Dragons

“All we can do is accept whatever comes, learn what we can, and hang on to what we love. And that’s it. In the end, the only thing you can hope to control is yourself. In this moment. Which is both a relief and a huge responsibility, both at the same time.”
― Kelly Barnhill, When Women Were Dragons

“You don’t have anyone telling you it’s time to go to bed, so I’m telling you right now. You need to take care of yourself. The world is changing, and it needs you to be well. Go to bed. Get some sleep. And start keeping your eyes up. The skies are full of promise. You are less alone than you think.”
― Kelly Barnhill, When Women Were Dragons

“I wish I had fought.” Effy surprised herself by saying it. The words had leaped out of her throat, unbidden. “I know I beat him in the end, but for so many years all I could do was run and hide. I just sat there and let the water pour in around me. I didn’t know that I could fight back. I didn’t know how to do anything but wait to drown.”
“Oh no, Effy. That’s not what I meant at all. You don’t have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery, too.”
― Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning