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Never take your eyes off what really matters.
But no one would have ever described her as sweet, kind, and loyal. Because the world had decided long ago what a sweet, kind, and loyal woman looked like, and it wasn’t her.
I know how much time you spend on your phone, you can type out I love you.
She could count on one hand the number of powerful men she knew who were capable of following a woman’s lead. What were the odds he was one of them?
I think anything that forces us to slow down and think about ourselves and what we’re looking for is a good thing.
“But trust in relationships is like fragile glass. How can you build on a cracked foundation? How can you be sure you’re getting the truth? You have to protect your own heart. No one else will do it for you.”
she’d been acutely conscious of how . . . too much she was. Too much volume, too much melanin, too much ambition. Too much visibility.
“Sometimes, good people make mistakes. It costs you nothing to hear someone out.”
It was so much easier to write people off. Much harder to navigate the gray areas of interpersonal relationships.
“I’m just stating facts. If those make you sound like a stalker . . .”
Every time you hurt someone, you break off a little piece of them. Not only do they have to live with that broken piece, then the next person who comes along has to figure out a way to spackle that spot. Your behavior has ripple effects.
Nobody spoke enough about how much bodies could be starved for platonic affection. She knew she gave off strong Do Not Touch vibes, but she needed occasional hugs too.
Infants were like a ball of cheeks and rolls held together with drool, but they were surprisingly sturdy.
When you were in a stew of toxicity, sometimes you reached for the least bitter piece of meat.
Deletion you could do on a whim. Blocking was the ultimate goodbye.
“Being vulnerable is a risk. Love—romantic, platonic, familial, it doesn’t matter what kind of love—is a risk.” She closed her eyes tight, tears leaking out. “Because you’re right. They can leave. They can die or be hurt or simply walk away.” Her eyes opened. “But a moment of that love, child, is worth it. If you have a second, a minute, a month, a year, a decade with that person? You count yourself lucky. You can use that love and the lessons it taught you to plant more seeds for love. You can live off that love for a lifetime.
“When you’re a minority, in any industry, you feel so visible, and like the only way to get ahead is to be tougher than everyone else. You don’t cry. You don’t show weakness. You can’t be a victim.”
How many brilliant minds have been suppressed because a toxic workplace ended their careers?”
Success is the best revenge? No. Sometimes, revenge is the best revenge.”
“Anyone’s violent with the right provocation. I choose not to be violent, that’s different.”
“It’s not a weakness to take care of yourself. Asking for and taking what you need to function should never be considered a weakness.”
“Trust is the only reason the world ever functions as it should. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, and I know that uncertainty is scary, but that’s the only way you figure out who your closest people are.”
When the stars align, and you have a partner you can be vulnerable with? There’s no such thing as weakness or strength or power battles. There’s just a person who loves you. And it’s amazing.”
“See, that’s the funny thing. Sometimes you don’t intend to do something, and you do it, and no one gives a fuck what you intended because you’ve done the thing.”
