Sophia

“he has repudiated the standards by which I measured others and myself; I had never dreamed of challenging them-- that is to say of challenging myself. And now what I wonder is this: what right had I to say that the inner life was preferable to a merely social life, contemplation to trifling amusements, and self-sacrifice to ambition? My only life had been to create happiness around me.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Woman Destroyed

“He thinks I am trying to blackmail him with misery, so as to frighten him and prevent him from leaving me. Maybe he's right.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Woman Destroyed

“She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person. But now she has a new life, of which this is the first moment, and even after many years have passed she will still think: Yes that was it, the beginning of my life.”
― Sally Rooney, Normal People