When I Ran Away Quotes

“They don't know that birth and life and death are just chance. Who gets what has nothing to do with us.”
― Ilona Bannister, When I Ran Away

“I was angry that Harry wasn't a woman.

That's still the problem. He hasn't been trained since before he could speak to intuit the needs of others. He hasn't been shown how to push against the pulsing muscle of his heart to make room for everyone who needs a space in it. When he does try I say his attempts are inadequate. I don't accept his limitations. But he doesn't admit he has them. He doesn't do what I would do. He doesn't apologize for his presence, take up as little room as possible. Every time he pretends to step up but doesn't and every time I'm disappointed. But neither of us explains and neither of us changes.

We used to say thank you and please. We used to try to be what the other one needed and wanted. I thought we were special. I thought we wouldn't take each other for granted...”
― Ilona Bannister, When I Ran Away

“We want to know more than we want to survive. We want to know what death looks like before we run away from it. But we don't know that about ourselves until it's happening. Until we see it we don't know that we're the kind of people who run toward death; the kind of people who don't run away even when it's coming for us.”
― Ilona Bannister, When I Ran Away