Flawed (Flawed #1)

by Cecelia Ahern

When you see something, it can’t be unseen. When you hear a sound, it can never be unheard. I know, deep down, that this evening I have learned something that can never be unlearned. And the part of my world that is altered will never be the same.

“What lurks beneath those you consider your equals.

her perspective seems to curve around things, wind and twist, turn things upside down to reach the answer.

PS-What did the elephant say to the naked man? How do you breathe through something so small?

swallow hard and nod, almost afraid of the intensity of his look, by

To be true to myself, I will be deemed Flawed.

My heart starts to palpitate; my breathing is irregular. All eyes are on me, judging me, thinking these things

I’ve learned that to be courageous is to feel fear within, every step of the way. Courage does not take over, it fights and struggles through every word you say and every step you take. It’s a battle or a dance as to whether to let it pervade. It takes courage to overcome, but it takes extreme fear to be courageous. Tina ignores me, purposely

will never let anyone else see my naked body. Not friends. Not a man. No one.

When the lows are so immense, the victories are small. But they are there despite it. You just have to know them when you see them, little pockets of light and hope hidden away in the darkness.

read books in the library, huddling on a beanbag in a corner and getting lost in somebody else’s victories and troubles.

a perfectionist, or at least I was,

I surrender to my Flawed life; they have won, and I have

The power doesn’t just lie in the sixth brand on your spine, but in the strength you’ve had in getting it.

How can they have learned what’s right and wrong, how could they have learned anything about themselves? About what they feel comfortable doing, about what they feel is beyond the scope of their character? The more mistakes you have made, the more you have learned.”

I’m not who they think I am.

‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’”

said there are four principles to solving a problem. First, you have to understand the problem. After understanding it, you make a plan, then you carry out the plan, then you look back on your work. If this technique fails, which, of course, it often does, Pólya advised, if you can’t solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: Find it.”

Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is often a responsibility nobody wants.”

“Actions speak louder than words, remember that.

THERE’S THE PERSON who you think you should be and there’s the person who you really are. I’ve lost a sense of both.

can take a lifetime to build up a friendship—it can take a second to make an enemy.