Totally Folked Quotes

“How you treat others defines you more than how others treat you.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Which, if you ask me, just means it’s not where you belong. If you can be replaced so easily in a person’s life, then you probably don’t need to be a part of that person’s life.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“You raised an exceptional son."

He glanced over at me, pleasure shining in his eyes. "I hope I meet your mother one day."

I reared back an inch, his statement confusing and unsettling me. I searched my mind, wondering why this sweet, gentle man would want to meet my mom. "What? Why?"

He struggled, like the answer was obvious but he said it anyway. "So I can tell her she raised an exceptional daughter.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I might change, but that doesn't mean I can change people's minds about who I am, because the idea persists, even if it's faulty.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Your mistakes and missteps will reinforce people's unflattering ideas about you, and your good deeds will be explained away by nice weather,”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“It's just as hard to alter an idea as it is a first impression.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Seeds sown in dread never bloom because fear makes for shallow soil.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Taking this as a good sign, I went on. “See, one thing I’ve learned over and over again in my line of work is that how a person is raised informs their convictions.” Rae nodded, leaning back in her seat, watching me. “Their ideas about the world are formed based on their own experience and the people they know personally. Sometimes, these ideas are so deeply held that evidence and facts to the contrary feel like an attack. This is what it’s like with my mother and red meat.” Now Rae frowned. “She thinks if people don’t like steak, it’s a personal affront?” “No, no. Nothing like that. You can talk poorly of red meat, you can be a vegetarian or a vegan—none of that bothers her. She considers those your beliefs, your choices. Fine with her. But if you tried to change her mind, or if she sensed you were judging her belief in the importance of the American cattle industry? Don’t bother speaking to her again.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Taking this as a good sign, I went on. “See, one thing I’ve learned over and over again in my line of work is that how a person is raised informs their convictions.” Rae nodded, leaning back in her seat, watching me. “Their ideas about the world are formed based on their own experience and the people they know personally. Sometimes, these ideas are so deeply held that evidence and facts to the contrary feel like an attack. This is what it’s like with my mother and red meat.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Oh. Yeah. She’s upset. I wasn’t going to tell her to calm down. Telling a woman to calm down was like throwing gasoline on a tire fire.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I wanted someone who supported me like that. Who, no matter what, believed in me. Someone who looked at me like I was magic.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Sorry. I just—I don’t like that he works for you, and he’s telling you what to do. He is your subordinate. He treats you like you are there for his purpose, to make him money. This is not the right way. As Plato said, ‘The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I suspected any kid who has been bullied in school, any boy who was small and scrawny for his age, anyone who felt awkward and ugly growing up, learns how to do this without trying. It was an innate skill I now used whenever I found myself in a dangerous or uncertain situation at work, when tensions and adrenaline were running high. I told myself to slow it down. Slow my mind down and pretend I was an observer, a bystander not in the thick of the action. I didn’t have to feel scared or shitty about myself if I didn’t wish to. I could simply pretend.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“wanted to live an authentic life. Uncertainty and risk were the price.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“He cleared his throat. “Firstly, in our culture, traditionally, men do not discuss the trials and tribulations of their romantic relationships with other men, not like the womenfolk do. I believe this leads to unnecessary angst, heartbreak, and the blockage of essential harmonizing hormones which aid mental wellness. You should talk to someone, and it should be us.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Wise man.” Cletus nodded somberly. “Thank you.” He stopped nodding. “I was referring to myself.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Firstly, in our culture, traditionally, men do not discuss the trials and tribulations of their romantic relationships with other men, not like the womenfolk do. I believe this leads to unnecessary angst, heartbreak, and the blockage of essential harmonizing hormones which aid mental wellness”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“After what he, Miguel, and I had been through today—a ten-hour fashion show with a woman intent on making the perfect first impression—I wanted to ask Dave and Miguel to be groomsmen at my wedding. We’d bonded. For life.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I wasn’t going to tell her to calm down. Telling a woman to calm down was like throwing gasoline on a tire fire.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“How you treat others defines you more than how others treat you. There’s no such thing as convincing someone to love you, you can’t push a person into reciprocating feelings. No one owes me anything I haven’t earned. Sometimes wanting a thing is bad for me, it makes me a worse person; no matter how much I want it, if it doesn’t make me better, I should let it go. And lastly, give grace when asked sincerely for forgiveness, even if the person’s behavior was shameful, petty, and small.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“As Plato said, ‘The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“No. I don’t have my shit together. Every day is making-it-all-up-as-I-go-along. No person alive has all their shit together.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“Don’t spend too much time weeding an empty garden.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“That was certainly one of them. But there were others, such as: How you treat others defines you more than how others treat you. There’s no such thing as convincing someone to love you, you can’t push a person into reciprocating feelings. No one owes me anything I haven’t earned. Sometimes wanting a thing is bad for me, it makes me a worse person; no matter how much I want it, if it doesn’t make me better, I should let it go. And lastly, give grace when asked sincerely for forgiveness, even if the person’s behavior was shameful, petty, and small.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“the Twitter, the Facebook, the Tikety Tok—”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I told myself to slow it down. Slow my mind down and pretend I was an observer, a bystander not in the thick of the action. I didn’t have to feel scared or shitty about myself if I didn’t wish to. I could simply pretend.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“She nodded, and I met my father’s eyes. Even after over a decade of me abstaining from meat, dairy, refined sugars, and processed grains—except on holidays, dates, and special occasions—he still looked at me with sympathy. But he hadn’t grown up with cystic acne, asthma, and chronic cluster headaches. Me eating picky meant I felt good.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I’m proud of you,” he said, his tone sincere. “No matter what happens, no matter who they are, no matter how they treat you, it doesn’t change who you are.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“If my mother wanted a relationship with me—a real one, not a shallow one, not a fake one—she had to want it. I would keep the door open for her, but it was up to her whether or not she ever walked through.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked

“I was my own person, but I shared myself with people who loved me. My choices were my own, but I’d surrounded myself with friends who cared enough about my choices to offer their opinion and wanted my opinion on their choices.”
― Penny Reid, Totally Folked