💬 Quotes

"Punishment in these narratives is no longer a tool of the state to restore order, but a chaotic expression of power exerted by the individual to affirm their own existence within a vacuum of law."

"Ultimately, both novels suggest that the 'self' is a fragile construct, maintained only by the constant, invisible gaze of social institutions; once that gaze is removed, the mask of civilization dissolves."

"My mother told me that if I didn't listen to her, I would be like a crab, walking sideways, moving crookedly, always looking for a way out."

"That is the way it is with a wound, even a mother's, and even if it is invisible: it must be felt to be understood."

"For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me."

"Each of us is a different kind of daughter, but together we are the same kind of woman."

"You must peel off your blindfolds and see—fear is both the enemy and the friend. You must face it, or it will swallow you whole."

"We are lost, she and I, unseen and unheard, until we learn to speak the language of our own hearts."

"The past isn't behind you. It's beneath you. It's the ground you're standing on."

"In this business, you don't retire. You just run out of time."

"You can change your name, you can change your city, you can change your clothes, but you can’t change your zip code in hell."

"The trick to staying alive wasn't being the fastest or the meanest; it was being the guy who remembered how the trap was set."

"Trust is a luxury, but in my line of work, it's a death sentence."

"Every man has a closing date. Most just don't know it's already been written on the ledger."

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does."

"Off with her head!"