Samantha

“People may talk as they will about the little respect that is paid to virtue, unaccompanied by the outward accidents of wealth or station; but I rather think it will be found that, in the long run, true and simple virtue always has its proportionate reward in the respect and reverence of every one whose esteem is worth having. To be sure, it is not rewarded after the way of the world as mere worldly possessions are, with low obeisance and lip-service; but all the better and more noble qualities in the hearts of others make ready and go forth to meet it on its approach, provided only it be pure, simple, and unconscious of its own existence.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth

“Weak and insignificant, he yet bore within him the talisman to set her direst magic at naught. For he beguiled the heavy-hearted folk into laughing, and what can avail against folk who laugh-- who dare to laugh in the face of a winter like this one? . . . That winter it was he who saved people from insanity and the grave.”
― O. E. Rölvaag, Giants in the Earth

“Lark’s theory of angels was that they are us and we mostly don’t remember.”
― Leif Enger, I Cheerfully Refuse

“It was another damaging cliche, one that's been forever used to sweep minority women to the perimeter of every room. An unconscious signal not to listen to what we've got to say. I was now starting to actually feel a bit angry, which then made me feel worse, as if I were fulfilling some prophecy laid out for me by the haters, as if I'd give in. It's remarkable how a stereotype functions as an actual trap. How many "angry black women" have been caught in the circular logic of that phrase? When you aren't being listened to, why wouldn't you get louder? If you're written off as angry or emotional, doesn't that just cause more of the same?”
― Michelle Obama, Becoming