37 Quotes by Elana K. Arnold

You see, Ama, it is for men to create. It is for men to decide. It is for men to speak. It is your place to listen, and follow, and gestate. And those are no small things! For without women to listen, how would the men’s words be heard? Without your fertile womb, how could my son hope to grow? You are important, Ama. Desperately important. But do not overreach.

We can believe things that are true, and we can believe things that are not true. Which is more important – what is true, or what we believe?

Ama lost connection to the places where her body intersected with the world: where her feet touched the ground, where her head existed in relation to the rest of the room.

I’m more than any of the parts of me – I am more than my good parts, and more than my bad ones. I am more than my mistakes. I am more than my memories. I will say these words again and again, like an anthem, like a prayer, until I believe them.

She was of the sun and from the sun. She was not a plaything of this little man.

Without you,” Ama said, “I would be free.

There is no such thing as unconditional love,” my mother told me. “I could stop loving you at any time.

Marissa keeps herself entertained by rating the guys that cruise by. She has her own rating scale: each guy is assigned a letter of the alphabet. But it isn’t A to Z order – Marissa must have like a touch of autism or something, because she has this theory that some letters are sexier than others.

She was too much and not enough, both in the same instant. Too big and too small; too bright and too dull; too affectionate and not affectionate enough.