The Maid's Diary Quotes

“We are—or we become—what we pretend to be, so we must be very careful who we pretend to be.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“here’s a thing I’ve learned: Perfection is deception. An illusion. It’s a carefully curated but false narrative. The golden family you think you know from the luxury home down the street—they’re not who you believe they are. They have faults, secrets. Sometimes dark and terrible ones.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“I saw how my addictions and quirks helped me hide from the hurtful things.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Whatever the answers, I am now pushed up against the Monster I’ve been trying to hide from. And suddenly I face two paths. Just two choices: Either accept this and allow myself to be violated all over again—remain the Anonymous Girl and hide even deeper behind my masks and coping mechanisms. Or this time stand tall. Fight back. Be seen. No longer the ghost.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Perfection is deception. An illusion. It’s a carefully curated but false narrative. The golden family you think you know from the luxury home down the street—they’re not who you believe they are. They have faults, secrets. Sometimes dark and terrible ones.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“It’s you who chose to believe boys will be boys, especially in groups, and you who put your head in the sand. You who still choose to believe there are slutty females out to lure and entice men expressly to gain favors, and that the men are powerless in the face of free sex and those women are to blame.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“As she is about to reverse out of her parking space, her phone pings. And again. And again. Responses to her Instagram post. Daisy cannot resist taking a quick peek. She craves the dopamine hit. Those little hearts of approval, the validation. She needs it. She grabs her phone, does a fast scroll through the comments: OMG how do you look so good? What’s your secret? Spill, girl! Love that jacket! Awesome photo. Love love love Vancouver. A month and a half to go! We’re counting down with you. A contented, connected feeling swells through Daisy’s body. Her followers adore her photo. They approve of her life. Of her. She feels less alone. Less overweight. Less unattractive.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“You know what they say about people in glass houses?” Benoit says. “They shouldn’t throw stones?” “They shouldn’t get stoned.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Por que mulheres traem outras mulheres assim? Estamos assim tão cooptadas, dependentes e sujeitas a um consentimento internalizado ao patriarcado? Temos tanto medo assim de“arrumar problema”?”
― Loreth Anne White, O diário da empregada

“Why should we always “understand” our abuser, the villains, the mendacity of evil, the people who let us down? Does understanding help us heal?”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“A human can take only so much depravity and senseless loss of life.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“And my mother probably never told my father, either. He was old school. Old morals. My pregnancy, my accusations of assault, the fact I was drinking—I became a disgrace to him. My father disrespected me. He was disgusted by me. He heard everyone say I was a liar, a drunk little whore who threw myself at ‘JonJon’ Rittenberg and the other boys,”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“This was you. It all adds up now. You invited me to the pub, and she was waiting there. She moved in after you plied me with whisky, after you gave me the card for the PI. And then my drink was spiked. You fucking set me up. Ahmed Waheed was probably never in line for the COO position”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“You who learned from your mother that in order to keep your own reputation and family intact, sometimes a woman needs to take radical action and look the other way. It’s you who chose to believe boys will be boys, especially in groups, and you who put your head in the sand. You who still choose to believe there are slutty females out to lure and entice men expressly to gain favors, and that the men are powerless in the face of free sex and those women are to blame.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“It’s her joke on the world of false narratives. Her mockery of a social media lifestyle where everyone projects some kind of brand, like they’re selling a product. And she pretends she’s this rich chick with an ultraglamorous globe-trotting lifestyle. And I join in sometimes. Because it seemed fun. No harm, no foul, right? But lately she’s been posting more and more photos of herself inside her clients’ houses.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Haruto is a good man. He’s just—a little coercive at times. He also has a quick temper, not much patience. But his temperament is also what makes him good at business. His mind is incredibly sharp. He doesn’t tolerate fools or people who think too slowly. It’s what enables him to bring in the big bucks and afford us places like this.” She gestures to her home. “I’m sure you understand.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Vanessa—so self-assured, so poised, cool, and collected—crumbled in that man’s presence. A bitter taste leaches into Daisy’s mouth. She doesn’t like the feeling of recognition. She glimpsed something of herself in Vanessa in that moment her husband walked in the door. Daisy knows exactly how it feels to be confronted with an angry, coercive, and strong husband.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Daisy can’t bear shutting off her Instagram space. What would she have left? She’d have no daily connection, no love, hearts, validation. She needs it all so badly just to keep going. Her life would be so empty. Lonely. Why can’t she be more like the old schoolgirl-teen Daisy?”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“in the clubs at night. He’s in a prison. Trapped. In an increasingly dull marriage. Living in a place called “Rose Cottage.” A baby on the way. The shattering responsibility of somehow becoming a father. How is he supposed to do that? His own dad never figured it out.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Now you can’t even dispose of your dear mother’s ashes, the mother who gave up everything in native Ukraine for you so you could have a better life. You never could finish things off properly. You even dropped out of school after we saved all the money for your university education. Too much drinking. Too much partying. Bad crowd.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“You had such promise, Katarina. You were top of your class in mathematics, in chemistry, physics. You won the English essay contest. You were on the honor roll. You could have been anything you wanted, but now you are a maid, cleaning up after other people.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“He moved into her house allegedly to care for her. Beulah knows he’s just after the house. It’s a highly valuable piece of luxury waterfront property now. Horton is a caregiver, not a carer. Sometimes she wonders if he’s trying to hasten her demise. Horton is Beulah’s big regret in life. She bites into the soggy biscuit and wonders what her boy will do with all the family china when she’s gone.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“I don’t think anything really heals trauma. You just find some kind of narrative to learn to cohabit with it.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Why should we always “understand” our abuser, the villains, the mendacity of evil, the people who let us down? Does understanding help us heal? I don’t think anything really heals trauma. You just find some kind of narrative to learn to cohabit with it.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“We’re going to be fine, Little Baby Bean. We all are. This is just a blip. Challenges make life worthwhile. The only consistent thing is change.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Triggers pulled. I’ve dropped through that trapdoor, Dear Diary. And everything has changed. I am inside Jon Rittenberg’s house . . . and I have a key.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“But here’s another thing about reality and perception. Like Mary in my play, when you choose your Story, you’re in fact also choosing your life. We are—or we become—what we pretend to be, so we must be very careful who we pretend to be.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“when you choose your Story, you’re in fact also choosing your life. We are—or we become—what we pretend to be, so we must be very careful who we pretend to be.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“Sometimes life direction is not a choice. It’s imposed on us. Against our will.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary

“the body keeps the score even when the mind can’t. Sometimes a person has no reasonable narrative for a traumatic event, so the conscious mind blocks it completely, trying to act as though nothing unusual occurred. But the body remembers.”
― Loreth Anne White, The Maid's Diary