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Kindle Notes & Highlights
If the cost of my happiness is the world’s judgment, then it is a price I’ll pay.
I’ve never felt so weak and…if I manage to escape him…I will never let myself feel weak ever again.
There’s no point in losing yourself in what you can’t change. You have to move forward.”
Sometimes, the simplest choices are the most powerful.
I’ve managed to convince myself that as long as I’m working, striving, helping and giving, then I can compensate for my flaws and be worthy of the love of those around me.
“Don’t hide behind your compassion to conceal the fact that you just don’t want to feel indebted or vulnerable.”
“How can you be so sure?” “I…” It’s his turn to trail off. To lose himself in his thoughts, words knotted. “I have no reason to be,” he admits. “But when I’m near you, I find myself believing that anything and everything is possible.”
“You don’t have to repay someone for their love. It’s given freely.” “But—” “No buts. That’s it. It’s that simple. If someone loves you, truly loves you, it’s because they want to—because they can’t imagine a world in which they don’t. Because you make their soul sing just with your mere existence.” Even though his words are sweet and bright, his eyes are filled with pain I don’t understand.
Who we are is independent of the trauma that tries to mar our souls. It is a part of us, it might teach us, but it does not define us.”
“There have been times when you frustrated me and there have been times when…” He sighs quietly and I think he’s not going to continue. When he does, it’s so soft I can barely hear. “When you make my soul sing with notes I never thought possible.”
A gentleman doesn’t assume a woman desires him in the carnal sense just because she spent some friendly time alone with him.”
I will scream, if I must, to make myself heard.
You can’t let your future be chained to the past. Claim your own destiny,”
“I wish I were stronger,” I admit. “You are plenty strong. Strength isn’t all-encompassing, nor without falter.”
“But…if I look back honestly on the woman I was, as much as it physically pains me to admit, I did love him—the man I thought he was. In the way I knew how for the person I was. “But I grew. I learned truths about him that couldn’t be reconciled. People change over time and the love needs to change with it.”
“Charles forever wanted the naive and perpetually optimistic young woman who made him her entire world. Someone who would never challenge him, who existed to make him feel good. She faded, with time, and the woman who replaced her needed so much more—needed a man he couldn’t be. I wanted a partner; he wanted a servant.
