Eilish Toohey > Eilish's Quotes

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“You are your best thing”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“There is a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up, holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind--wrapped tight like skin. Then there is the loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive. On its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet going seem to come from a far-off place.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Me and you, we got more yesterday than anybody. We need some kind of tomorrow.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“He wants to put his story next to hers.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“He licked his lips. ‘Well, if you want my opinion-‘
‘I don’t, ‘ She said. ‘I have my own.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Let me tell you something. A man ain’t a goddamn ax. Chopping, hacking, busting every goddamn minute of the day. Things get to him. Things he can’t chop down because they’re inside.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Today is always here,' said Sethe. 'Tomorrow, never.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Everything depends on knowing how much,” she said, and “Good is knowing when to stop.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping snakes, red gums ready for their sweet white blood. In a way, he thought, they were right. The more coloredpeople spent their strength trying to convince them how gentle they were, how clever and loving, how human, the more they used themselves up to persuade whites of something Negroes believed could not be questioned, the deeper and more tangled the jungle grew inside. But it wasn’t the jungle blacks brought with them to this place from the other (livable) place. It was the jungle whitefolks planted in them. And it grew. It spread. In, through and after life, it spread, until it invaded the whites who had made it. Touched them every one. Changed and altered them. Made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be, so scared were they of the jungle they had made. The screaming baboon lived under their own white skin; the red gums were their own.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“In Ohio seasons are theatrical. Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved

“In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“Nothing's worse than saying goodbye. It's a little like dying.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“Once again, I arrived at my usual conclusion: one must educate oneself.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“If hair is as stimulating as you say then you need to shave your mustache”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“For a revolution to succeed, the entire population must support it.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“My natural optimism just leads me to be skeptical.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

“Life is too short to be lived badly.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn't comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“You are putting yourself in serious danger...'

I think that I preferred to put myself in serious danger rather than confront my shame. My shame at not having become someone, the shame of not having made my parents proud after all the sacrifices they had made for me. The shame of having become a mediocre nihilist.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“Culture and education are the lethal weapons against all kinds of fundamentalism.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“I was a westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn't even know anymore why I was living.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins, that I was playing a game by somebody else's rules.”
― Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

“When we're afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. Our fear paralyzes us. Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.”
― Marjane Satrapi, The Complete Persepolis

“Where are you going on vacation?”
“Nowhere. I’m going to read. I love reading.”
― Marjane Satrapi, The Complete Persepolis

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

“It's the choosing that's important, isn't it?”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver

“I liked the feeling of love,' [Jonas] confessed. He glanced nervously at the speaker on the wall, reassuring himself that no one was listening. 'I wish we still had that,' he whispered. 'Of course,' he added quickly, 'I do understand that it wouldn't work very well. And that it's much better to be organized the way we are now. I can see that it was a dangerous way to live.'

...'Still,' he said slowly, almost to himself, 'I did like the light they made. And the warmth.”
― Lois Lowry, The Giver