Via

“what they’d been afraid of was running out of self. On the contrary the more they loved the more there was to love.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

“Do you think that maybe we're able to love someone best when that person doesn't know how we feel?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

“I remember Mum repeatedly telling us we had good hearts and good brains. When she said that we'd say 'thanks' and it might have sounded as if we were thanking her for seeing us that way but actually we were thanking her for giving us whatever goodness was in us.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

“She’d call Montse to come and judge how well the picture was progressing. "Look here," she’d say, indicating a faint shape in the corner of the frame. "Look here –" Her fingertips glided over a darkening of colour in the distance. She sketched with an effort that strained every limb. Montse saw that the Señora sometimes grew short of breath though she’d hardly stirred. A consequence of snatching images out of the air – the air took something back.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours