B > B's Quotes

“Cyril, you remember Peter and Ruth, don't you?' she said.
'Of course' I replied. 'Happy Christmas. Nice to see you both again.'
'Happy Christmas to you,' said Peter, an enormous man bursting out of an extra-large shirt. 'And may the blessings of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior be with you on this momentous day.'
'Fair enough,' I said 'Hello, Ruth.”
― John Boyne, The Heart's Invisible Furies

“He may have known the surface of the moon, memorized the names of the lunar maria, but Miel had done more than that with him. She'd learned him, but left room for the way he was still learning himself. She knew the shape of him, every place that was shadow and every place that reflected light, without deciding he was hers to name.”
― Anna-Marie McLemore, When the Moon Was Ours

“For so long, talking about Samira, acknowledging her as someone who no longer lived in him, had felt dangerous as running his fingers along a sharp edge. It had been Miel eating a slick of honey off a knife. It was an heirloom blade his mother would not leave out, fearing Sam was still a child who might cut himself.
But now he was Samir, and Samira was the friend he almost thought he imagined. And she would be a little more imaginary once he and his mother finished changing his name. He wanted to neither forget she existed nor live inside her.
She was someone he could not be.”
― Anna-Marie McLemore, When the Moon Was Ours

“God knew what words, or worse, this town would have for a boy who'd been born female. They would wrap their contempt and their cruelty in the lie that they wouldn't have cared, if only he'd told them.
'It's just the dishonesty of it all,' they'd whisper.
'All that lying, it's the lying I hate.'
'How can you trust someone who pretends like that?'
As though the truth of his body was any of their business, as though they had a right to consider how he lived an affront to them.”
― Anna-Marie McLemore, When the Moon Was Ours

“This book does not have a happy ending. The happy part is there is no ending, because I'll always find a way to keep going.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“During trial, the jury was forced to pick; is he wholesome or monstrous. But I never questioned that any of what they said about him was true. In fact I need you to know it was all true. The friendly guy who helps you move and assists senior citizens in the pool is the same guy who assaulted me. One person can be capable of both. Society often fails to wrap its head around the fact that these truths often coexist, they are not mutually exclusive. Bad qualities can hide inside a good person. That's the terrifying part.”
― Chanel Miller, Know My Name

“How different it is with friendship. No one picks a friend for us; we come together by choice. We are not tied together through ceremony or the responsibility to create a son; we tie ourselves together through moments. The spark when we first meet. Laughter and tears shared. Secrets packed away to be treasured, hoarded, and protected. The wonder that someone can be so different from you and yet still understand your heart in a way no one else ever will.”
― Lisa See, The Island of Sea Women

“It might be that saving the world is idiotically simple. Maybe we just need to connect and care for one another.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“Tru's face closes as though she has already figured out that promises are merely sweet lies.”
― Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn, Patsy

“You will always struggle with not feeling productive until you accept that your own joy can be something you produce. It is not the only thing you will make, nor should it be, but it is something valuable and beautiful.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“People will just share the things that confirm their ideology, and those things will always exist. Our reality isn't about what's real, it's about what we pay attention to.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“Altus didn't feel like a massive world-destroying entity; it felt more like Etsy at the moment. But that's the way of these things. One day, an internet company wants to sell books, and then ten years later they're a threat to nearly every industry on earth.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“The will to be polite, to maintain civility and normalcy, is fearfully strong. I wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because it would be rude to interrupt it.”
― Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

“Maybe things can always get better between people who want to do a good job loving each other. Maybe that’s all it takes.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation

“We navigate by capitalism. Always had, probably always will. And one of the things about capitalism is it demands we think of our lives as in deficit. Not enough time, not enough material possessions, not enough luxuries. Not enough anything. Because contentment doesn't sell. Desire does.”
― Cassandra Khaw, The All-Consuming World

“Soon his denial of Gail was somewhat of a comfort to him, a shawl he could wear out in the world. He grew easier while eating dinner with a plate on his lap next to the fire pit, easier on his hikes with Tennessee. The hardest part was first thing in the morning when he was truly relaxed, the moment just after waking up when he felt regular, normal, no pretending. It felt like everyone knew he had a bird in his chest and no one cared. A twitch from Tennessee while she slept or the screen door slamming behind Bob on his way out, and the feeling was gone.”
― Emme Lund, The Boy With a Bird in His Chest

“I am happy. But that doesn't mean things should stay the same.”
― Tillie Walden, On a Sunbeam