Home > Author > Deirdre Sullivan
1 " You thought if you were good. If you gave up the things that made you different. The world you know. That it would be enough. But sacrifice is often so invisible. People do not look for it in others. They know their own. They list them out like titles at a ball. I've done for you. I've done for you. I've done. And it is always your turn now. To hurt, to long. To be a broken thing. A thing that differs. Before, you always thought you were a person. "
― Deirdre Sullivan , Tangleweed and Brine
2 " You grew up soft. Your tender heart would nurse a frightened field mouse rescued from a trap. Would make a splint. You'd try to help but always it would die. You gave them names. You were a friendless child, a barrel-chested, sturdy little thing who played alone. You grew up soft, but still you learned to hide it. Piece by piece. The world's not built for soft and sturdy things. It likes its soft things small and white, defenceless. Princesses in castles. Maidens waiting for the perfect sword. You grew up soft, and piece by wounded piece you built a carapace around your body. Humans are peculiar little things. "
3 " Perhaps I am a dark, unpleasant creature. But I am my own creature. I am mine, my feet on the earth and the water in my soul and fire in my heart. And when all is taken from me I will still have my anger and my pain and they will feed me. "
― Deirdre Sullivan , Savage Her Reply
4 " People like their women to be lovely. Women are a lot of different things. "
5 " You do not ask her if she even wants him. That is not at all what it's about. It's not about being sensible, or strong. It's not about being kind. It's not about the soft touch and the kind heart. Beauty and a womb. That's all you are. That's all an adder needs. "
6 " Sometimes I would like to be a child again, and other times a woman made of snow. "
7 " How could I give what I had never known? "
8 " The thought of being in the world was too much to bear. "
9 " You are afraid. But there is something else inside as well. A kind of thrill. You always have been told the things you want. What you are greedy for. The sense of wanting something is quite different. "
10 " You know that there are colours in the day. But shadows gather and your thoughts collide. "
11 " A child's want in a woman's heart is dangerous "
12 " It’s hard to trust tales from the lips of grandmothers; they come out wrong, too dirty or too clean. "
13 " A forest is lovely to look at but only to look at. Once inside, you can’t look any more. Everything is muted and in shadow. "
14 " My mind drifts but my industry never wavers. "
15 " Creating life. It almost overwhelms. "
16 " A woman who has died and come back twice is not a woman. She is something more and something less. "
17 " You grew up soft, but still you learned to hide it. Piece by piece. The world’s not built for soft and sturdy things. It likes its soft things small and white, defenceless. "
18 " Every little death had taught you something. "
19 " People weave a kindness to their cruelty. "
20 " You have to ask for his permission now. To cook. To eat. You are a woman. "
