Home > Author > Louise O'Neill
1 " I can't even remember the first time I saw a porno. I presume I must have been shocked, frightened even, but after watching another and another and another they sort of blend into nothingness. "
― Louise O'Neill , Only Ever Yours
2 " We teach our girls how not to get raped with a sense of doom, a sense that we are fighting a losing battle. When I was writing this novel, friend after friend came to me telling me of something that had happened to them. A hand up their skirt, a boy who wouldn’t take no for an answer, a night where they were too drunk to give consent but they think it was taken from them anyway. We shared these stories with one another and it was as if we were discussing some essential part of being a woman, like period cramps or contraceptives. Every woman or girl who told me these stories had one thing in common: shame. ‘I was drunk . . . I brought him back to my house . . . I fell asleep at that party . . . I froze and I didn’t tell him to stop . . .’ My fault. My fault. My fault. When I asked these women if they had reported what had happened to the police, only one out of twenty women said yes. The others looked at me and said, ‘No. How could I have proved it? Who would have believed me?’ And I didn’t have any answer for that. "
― Louise O'Neill , Asking For It
3 " She catches sight of herself in her video-feed, her face contorted with fury. Wiping spittle from the sides of her mouth, she reaches behind her to grab her lip gloss and reapplies it. “And don’t even start thinking about what a bitch I am,” she says. Her eyes are steady, the heat receding from her skin. “This is not my fault. I’m just doing what we have been trained to do. This is who we are, freida. This is who we were designed to be. "
4 " I do the splits perfectly in PE. I lose half a pound in two days. I get the spinach and pig-meat frittata from the lo-carb section for lunch. And no-one else knows. I mentally construct a MyFace status, polishing the memories carefully until they shine. The need to record my life is as fundamental as my need to breathe. Without MyFace, I'm floating. I have nothing to anchor me down, to prove I exist. "
― Louise O'Neill
5 " I like it better when my room is pitch black, when the dark is so thick it swallows me up and I feel as if I could drown in it. "
6 " I dream of things I know nothing about. "
7 " When did we all become fluent in this language that none of us wanted to learn? "
8 " They are all innocent until proven guilty. But not me. I am a liar until I am proven honest. "
9 " Why would I be offended? Being called fat is not an insult, little mermaid. It is as meaningless as being called thin. They are just descriptions. It is your father who has deemed it to be a negative word, and a negative state of being.” She looks down at herself with obvious pleasure. “I like my body. And while I value my own opinion over those of men, it might surprise you to know that some prefer a woman of more plentiful flesh. It is nothing to be ashamed of – we all have our preferences – but they have been forced to feel ashamed even so.” She sighs. “And I am a fallen woman because of that shame. It is their desire and yet I am cast out as a result. "
― Louise O'Neill , The Surface Breaks
10 " That voice… My voice, it was my voice. How did Flora have my voice? How could I have thrown it away? The only time I was ever happy under the sea was when I was singing, and I sewed my mouth shut in the hopes that a boy I barely knew could kiss it open again. "
11 " I'm a good girl. I am pretty. I am always happy-go-lucky. "
12 " Why, isabel? Why are you doing this to yourself? To your body?'And why are you doing this to me? is the awful, selfish thought that is left unsaid.'Because I can,' she answers, and I shiver as she unconsciously echoes chastity-ruth.'But-''Because it's my body,' she cuts in. 'Isn't it? "
13 " megan once told me that happiness is getting exactly what you want, but she thinks it's only what she wants that counts. "
14 " I was born in the water and I was born of the water. "
15 " I can' because the Sea King will be angry if we do not do as he wishes. He will not stand for female insubordination, today of all days "
16 " The women always get blamed. Have you noticed that? The wives are nags. The mistress is a bitch for betraying the sisterhood. And the men just fall through the cracks in between. We expect so little from our boys, don’t we, Grace? "
17 " I don’t know how people pretend to be something they’re not; it takes so much effort. That was always my problem, ever since I was your age. I didn’t care about what people thought of me. I only wanted to be true to myself. "
18 " There was no one there to hear them scream no. Or maybe there was; but that no wasn’t deemed worthy of being heard. Maybe they heard it and they didn’t care. A woman’s no can so easily be turned into a yes by men who do not want to listen. "
19 " They always fall asleep afterwards; it’s pathetic how little stamina they have. You didn’t miss much with this one, I can assure you.”Miss much? What is she talking about?“He was adequate,” Flora amends. “Concerned with his own pleasure, and annoyed I didn’t seem to think it all a great honour. Male fragility can be exhausting at times, can it not? "
20 " We are who we are. Sometimes, no matter how much someone might want to, they can’t escape that. "
