37 Quotes by Patricia McConnell

We humans are in such a strange position—we are still animals whose behavior reflects that of our ancestors, yet we are unique—unlike any other animal on earth. Our distinctiveness separates us and makes it easy to forget where we came from. Perhaps dogs help us remember the depth of our roots, reminding us—the animals at the other end of the leash—that we may be special, but we are not alone. No wonder we call them our best friends.

I couldn’t stand living in a society that admires the emperor’s new clothes, when I see so clearly that he is naked.

My husband regarded my prison past as a dirty secret and never asked me one single question about it. But what I had experienced and witnessed was eating at me and I needed to “tell somebody.”

One of the principle things life has taught me is that we always have a choice. When we say we “can’t,” we usually mean we’re just not willing to pay the price.

I’m actually a lowlife. On the street at fifteen and also in jail for the first time at that age, and off and on the street until my mid-twenties.

Prison experience puts distance between me and any person who hasn’t been there, done that.

People think I’m educated because I talk and write well, but the fact is I never finished high school. I’ve read a lot, is all.

I don’t believe anyone can go through the prison experience without being changed by it. The experience becomes part of your identity forever.

The fact that educated white women automatically assume that we have similar backgrounds annoys me. We don’t. I feel like I’m in a certain kind of drag.