Maya

“Loretta said that, a couple months ago, Cindy asked her what assassination meant. She told her the truth, of course—that an assassination is when someone kills you to make a point. Which was correct enough, Stella supposed, but only if you were an important man. Important men became martyrs, unimportant ones victims. The important men were given televised funerals, public days of mourning. Their deaths inspired the creation of art and the destruction of cities. But unimportant men were killed to make the point that they were unimportant—that they were not even men—and the world continued on.”
― Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half

“Most of what I was taught about sex was bullshit. Most of what the majority of us are taught about sex is bullshit, for that matter, but it’s extra bullshit for women.”
― Lara Parker, Vagina Problems: Endometriosis, Painful Sex, and Other Taboo Topics

“I do not believe in the idea that going through pain like this is something to be grateful for. That it somehow makes me a stronger person, or more empathetic. I am not grateful for my pain. But I am grateful for the person I have become in spite of it.”
― Lara Parker, Vagina Problems

“She could think of nothing more horrifying than not being able to hide what she wanted.”
― Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half