Esme

“That what I have is not women's intuition but a finely honed copper's instinct for when things aren't right.”
― Val McDermid

“Change for your own sake, if you must, not for what you imagine another will ask of you.”
― Emma Donoghue, Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“It was as if I had spent thirteen years specialising in a certain language, only to discover all its speakers had scattered and renounced their native tongue. No, worse than that, because at least dead languages could be studied. This was as if I had spent my life learning to play a certain unique instrument, only to see some crazed vandal smash it to pieces.”
― Emma Donoghue, Hood

“Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapour, a drop of water is enough to kill him. but even if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows none of this.”
― Blaise Pascal, Pensées