“Once you let people know anything about what you think, that's it, you're dead. Then they'll be jumping about in your mind, taking things out, holding them up to the light and killing them, yes, killing them, because thoughts are supposed to stay and grow in quiet, dark places, like butterflies in cocoons.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Two hungry people should never make friends. If they do, they eat each other up. It is the same with one person who is hungry and another who is full: they cannot be real, real friends because the hungry one will eat the full one. You understand?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Would that be dangerous, to not look while being looked at?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Finally, he smiled, and although his smile was bumpy because some of his teeth were jagged and broken, it was a warming, infectious smile that was reflected in his eyes. It made her smile widely in return. She felt as if the room had been lit up. He held out his arms, and she went across the room to him, almost running. She buried her face in his shirt, her nose wrinkling up as the scent of his cologne mixed with the nutty, sourish smell of camphor that filled the room. He put his arms around her, but gently, so that there was space between his forearms and her back, holding her as if she was to fragile to hug properly. Awkwardly, he patted her light, bushy aureole of dark brown hair, repeating: "Good girl. Fine daughter.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“She had a new bracelet on, stacked with emeralds brighter than her eyes. I hate rich people.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“But Jess was sliding breathlessly down into the waiting sky, so she couldn't find the words to tell TillyTilly that sisters was something about being held without hands, and the skin-flinch of seeing and simultaneously being seen.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Didn’t she know that knowing why doesn’t make things any less scary?”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“What’s the matter, Jess? Why are you sad?’ And she’d have to explain that she wasn’t sad, just tired, though how she could be so tired in the middle of the day with the sun shining and everything, she didn’t know. It made her feel ashamed.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
“Once you let people know anything about what you think, that’s it, you’re dead. Then they’ll be jumping about in your mind, taking things out, holding them up to the light and killing them, yes, killing them, because thoughts are supposed to stay and grow in quiet, dark places, like butterflies in cocoons.”
― Helen Oyeyemi, quote from The Icarus Girl
Helen Oyeyemi
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“We are vain and we are dishonest because it is necessary to triumph over other vain and dishonest persons.”
― Kathrine Kressmann Taylor, quote from Address Unknown
“Und doch sitzt in mir noch immer eine wahnsinnige Hoffnung. Ich kann nur nachsichtig darüber lächeln. Mit diesem verstockten Eigensinn habe ich als Kind gehofft, nie sterben zu müssen. Ich stelle mir diese Hoffnung als einen blinden Maulwurf vor, der in mir hockt und über seinem Wahn brütet. Da ich ihn nicht aus mir vertreiben kann, muss ich ihn gewähren lassen. ”
― Marlen Haushofer, quote from The Wall
“As the months passed, even the strident voices from the newspapers had begun to moderate, and the passion to put Preston’s neck in a noose had become subdued. It was a relief to Adams that with the trial now scheduled for October, he had time to work with Josiah Quincy to prepare a case based on law and reason. And it meant he could spend time with his family and enjoy the wonderful peace of the farm.”
― Jeff Shaara, quote from Rise to Rebellion
“He's a monster, wrapped up in a pretty package. But I find myself wondering at times like this, when I feel the distance between us, if maybe in his eyes, the real monster is me.”
― J.M. Darhower, quote from Monster in His Eyes
“Babamukuru was always impressive when he made these speeches of his. He was a rigid, imposing perfectionist, steely enough in character to function in the puritanical way that he expected, or rather insisted, that the rest of the world should function. Luckily, or maybe unluckily for him, throughout his life Babamukuru had found himself - as eldest child and son, as an early educated African, as headmaster, as husband and father, as provider to many - in positions that enabled him to organise his immediate world and its contents as he wished. Even when this was not the case, as when he went to the mission as a young boy, the end result of such periods of submission was greater power than before. Thus he had been insulated from the necessity of considering alternatives unless they were his own. Stoically he accepted his divinity. Filled with awe, we accepted it too. We used to marvel at how benevolent that divinity was. Babamukuru was good. We all agreed on this. More significantly still, Babamukuru was right.”
― Tsitsi Dangarembga, quote from Nervous Conditions
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