Maria

“But underneath all that was also the knowledge that she wasn’t wrong for wanting something different. Women in this world are still expected to conform, even though it doesn’t seem like that anymore. You can be many things in this life, but a dissatisfied woman is not one of them. What’s wrong with you, men ask as they push forward, why aren’t you happy back there, why isn’t it enough? Pimps say it to their hookers in the same way rich men say it to their wives, in the same way bosses say it to their employees, in the same way fathers say it to mothers. Sometimes we just want something different.”
― Araminta Hall, Imperfect Women

“To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflict than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“A Woman in harmony with her spirit
is like a river flowing.
She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination
prepared to be herself
and only herself ”
― Maya Angelou

“Women, Eleanor thought, carry guilt and responsibility like a second skin, so much so it weighs them down and stops them from ever achieving quite everything they should. She knew also that a man faced with the true extent of a woman’s guilt only ever really thinks that she is mad;”
― Araminta Hall, Imperfect Women