eesha

“He needed to tell her...what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn't pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. That without meaning to, he'd begun to lean on her, to look for her, to need her near. He needed to thank her for his new hat.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

“give your daughters difficult names. give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. my name makes you want to tell me the truth. my name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right.”
― Warsan Shire

“I forgive you..."
And he said those words because he sensed that it was the only way to save his own heart, to stop it from breaking in two. Despereaux, reader, spoke those words to save himself.
...
And then the princess took a deep breath and put a hand on her heart.
I think, reader, that she was feeling the same thing that Despereaux had felt when he was faced with his father begging him for forgiveness. That is, Pea, was aware suddenly how fragile her heart was, how much darkness was inside it, fighting, always, with the light, but she knew what she must do to save her own heart.
And so, here are the words that the princess spoke to her enemy...
Forgiveness... is a a divine attribute and once it is given to those who have hurt you, your own heart begins to heal.”
― Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux

“How am I supposed to know?” she asked instead. “What’s it supposed to be like?”

Lana and Claire traded tiny smiles, and Claire asked gently, “What’s what supposed to be like?”

Lily slumped back against the sofa, feeling boneless and muddled. “Falling in love, I guess.”

“You’ll know,” Claire said. “It’s unmistakable.”

(How she could recognize Kath at the other end of a crowded Galileo hallway by the way she walked.)

“It’s like . . . well, it’s like falling,” Lana said. “Falling, or floating, or sinking.”

(Every time they kissed.)

“You won’t know which way is up.”

“It’s like having a fever.”

(The way the world seemed to narrow down to the tips of Kath’s fingers.)

“It’s like being drunk—drunk for days.”
― Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club