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21 " We are both of us torn by the weight of knowing all these people cannot possibly be witches. If we speak in their defense, we become accused. If we say nothing, we condemn them falsely with our silence. What would God have us do? "
― Susan Meissner , The Shape of Mercy
22 " The key is to never let someone else tell you what to think. "
23 " I hope [Willa] still thinks butterflies are beautiful. I think they are. We shouldn't think for a moment that just because their lives are short they shouldn't be here. "
― Susan Meissner , As Bright as Heaven
24 " Everyone has a past, and everyone's past matters. "
25 " It's the working class that truly make things happen, even in America," he said. "And the workingman isn't valued. I fought in this war no just to stop Hitler and the Nazis, but to stop all people who want to oppress their fellow man. You may not like hearing it, but the United States isn't a true democracy where all her people are fairly represented. It's always the rich who get elected. How can they represent the poor man? The U.S. *could* be a true democracy, but it isn't. "
― Susan Meissner , The Last Year of the War
26 " [Evie] says the flu wanted to make barbarians of us, to have us think life is not precious and the dead are not worthy of our kindest care. Our humanity is what made what happened to us so terrible. "
27 " Fear is worse than pain, I think. Pain is centralized, identifiable, and wanes as you wait. Fear is a heaviness you can’t wriggle out from under. You must simply find the will to stand with it and start walking. Fear does not start to fade until you take the step that you think you can’t. "
― Susan Meissner , Secrets of a Charmed Life
28 " The person who completes your life is not so much the person who shares all the years of your existence, but rather the person who made your life worth living, no matter how long or short a time you were given to spend with them. "
― Susan Meissner , A Fall of Marigolds
29 " When you only do what is expected of you, you never learn what you would've done had you chosen for yourself. "
30 " I used to think mercy meant showing kindness to someone who didn't deserve it, as if only the recipient defined the act. The girl in between has learned that mercy is defined by its giver. Our flaws are obvious, yet we are loved and able to love, if we choose, because there is that bit of the divine still smoldering in us. "
31 " Truth is a strange companion. It devastates one moment and enthralls the next. But it never deceives. And because of that, in the end, it comforts. "
32 " Home isn't a safe place where everything stays the same; it's a place where you are safe and loved despite nothing staying the same. "
33 " what I hope readers will take away, is that a happy life is not made up of what you have dreamed of, chased after, and achieved, but rather whom you poured your life into, who poured their life into yours, and the difference you’ve made in the lives of others. Most of the dreams we pursue don’t have intrinsic worth, but people always do. "
34 " I don't know very many people who can piece together eloquent prayers when their souls are wounded. Words don't come at those times, but tears do. I have always thought of my tears as prayers. "
35 " Everything beautiful has a story it wants to tell. "
36 " Do not choose to abandon love because you are afraid that it will crush you. Love is the only true constant in a fragile world. "
37 " To love is not to be fragile; it is to be unlocked and open. And when something is open, other things can come in. "
38 " There is just the simple truth that you must forgive yourself for only being able to make your own choices, and no one else’s. "
39 " Change always happens... We adjust to it. Somehow we figure out a way. We straighten what we can or learn how to like something a little crooked. That's how it is. Something breaks, you fix it as best you can. There's always a way to make something better, even if it means sweeping up the broken pieces and starting all over. That's how we keep moving, keep breathing, keep opening our eyes every morning, even when the only thing we know for sure is that we're still alive. "
40 " It was only after time had passed that a person was able to see whether she might have been able to bear the load she was sure had been too heavy. "