" Out there beyond this brief charmed circle, all around them, invading even our own minds, was something that disbelieved and destroyed and defeated. She knew it and recognized its power and yet she would never cease to deny it. In this moment of large weakness she suddenly knew large strength, a core buried deep within her that would refuse to be daunted by the outrageous blows or the niggling trifles human life was heir to. "

― Wilma Dykeman , The Tall Woman