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1 " We spend our lives complicating what we would do better to accept. Because in acceptance, we put our energies into transcendence. "
― Amy Harmon , Where the Lost Wander
2 " That’s what marriage is. It’s shelter. It’s sustenance. It’s warmth. It’s finding rest in each other. It’s telling someone, You matter most. "
3 " Are you angry with the bird because he can fly, or angry with the horse for her beauty, or angry with the bear because he has fearsome teeth and claws? Because he’s bigger than you are? Stronger too? Destroying all the things you hate won’t change any of that. You still won’t be a bear or a bird or a horse. Hating men won’t make you a man. Hating your womb or your breasts or your own weakness won’t make those things go away. You’ll still be a woman. Hating never fixed anything. It seems simple, but most things are. We just complicate them. We spend our lives complicating what we would do better to accept. Because in acceptance, we put our energies into transcendence. "
4 " If nothing matters, then there’s no point. If everything matters, there’s no purpose. The trick is to find firm ground between the two ways of being. "
5 " That’s what hope feels like: the best air you’ve ever breathed after the worst fall you’ve ever taken. It hurts. "
6 " The pain. It's worth it. The more you love, the more it hurts. It's the only thing that is. "
7 " Put your energy into rising above the things you can’t change, Naomi. Keep your mind right. And everything will work out for the best. "
8 " Hating never fixed anything. It seems simple, but most things are. We just complicate them. We spend our lives complicating what we would do better to accept. Because in acceptance, we put our energies into transcendence. "
9 " I hope the reader will experience the story in the spirit it was written, recognizing that who we are is not who they were, and judging historical people by today's standards prevents us from learning from them, from their mistakes and their triumphs. These people helped build the framework that we now stand on. We should be careful about burning it down. "
10 " The hardest thing about life is knowing what matters and what doesn’t,” Winifred muses. “If nothing matters, then there’s no point. If everything matters, there’s no purpose. The trick is to find firm ground between the two ways of being. "
11 " It is impossible to explain to someone who is surrounded by their own language and people just how lonely it is to not understand and to not be understood. "
12 " Every path is likely just a different version of hard. "
13 " I’m convinced everyone is a little vile, if they are honest about it. Vile and scared and human. "
14 " Only God decides when and how the reaping comes. That has nothing to do with us. We worry about what we’re sowing. "
15 " spent the first fifteen years of my life fighting everything and everyone. But . . . endurance . . . is a whole different kind of battle. It’s a hell of a lot harder. Don’t ever say you didn’t fight, because that’s never been true. Not one day of your whole life. You fought, Naomi. You’re still fighting. "
16 " It is the suffering of love. Every parent feels it. It is the suffering of being unable to shield or save. "
17 " The Andersons are from Norway. The McNeelys are Irish. Johann Gruber is from Germany. You’re part Indian, and I’m a widow.” She shrugs. “We all need each other. We can all live side by side peaceably, can’t we? We don’t all have to be exactly the same. "
18 " end. I realize now that life is just a continual parting of the ways, some more painful than others. "
19 " Men are just frightened boys. God gave you stronger bodies to make up for your weaker spines. "
20 " Put your energy into rising above the things you can’t change, Naomi. Keep your mind right. "
