Coraline

by Neil Gaiman

being brave didn’t mean you weren’t scared. Being brave meant you were scared, really scared, badly scared, and you did the right thing anyway.

Coraline wondered why so few of the adults she had met made any sense. She sometimes wondered who they thought they were talking to.

“Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.”

“It’s big enough for her,” said the cat. “Spiders’ webs only have to be large enough to catch flies.”

Coraline sighed. “You really don’t understand, do you?” she said. “I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn’t mean anything. What then?”