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21 " They won’t look like you,” Pa says. “Your children. That’s what happens when dark marries light. They won’t have your green eyes or your color hair. You need to think about that and what kinda lives they’ll have. They’ll look like him.” “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. The May line is a little homely. "
― Amy Harmon , Where the Lost Wander
22 " The pain. It's worth it. The more you love, the more it hurts. But it's worth it. It's the only thing that is. "
23 " Grief and joy are complicated. Love and loss too, and I know tears aren’t always what they seem. "
24 " I laugh at her pretty words so that I don't feel them. "
25 " Just trying to survive makes things pretty clear most days. We have to eat; we need shelter; we have to keep warm. Those things matter.” I nod. Simple enough. “But none of those things matter at all if you have no one to feed, to shelter, or to keep warm. If you have no one to survive for, why eat? Why sleep? Why care at all? So I guess it’s not what matters . . . but who matters. "
26 " It’s worth it, you know. What is, Jennie? The pain. It’s worth it. The more you love, the more it hurts. But it’s worth it. It’s the only thing that is. "
27 " 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. "
28 " 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.” “Even if there’s a lot of pain along the way?” “Especially if there’s pain along the way, "
29 " I 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. "
30 " transcendence means.” “That’s where your mind goes when your hands are drawing,” Ma explains. “It’s a world, a place, beyond this one. It’s what could be. "
31 " 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. Hating never fixed anything. "
32 " The pain. It’s worth it. The more you love, the more it hurts. But it’s worth it. It’s the only thing that is. "
33 " 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. That’s what Naomi wants from you. And that’s what she wants to give you. "
34 " I realize now that life is just a continual parting of the ways, some more painful than others. "
35 " Ma says the things we fear most tend to find us. "
36 " I am weighed down by the unknown and by my inability to prepare for it. "
37 " In order to accurately reflect the times, I had to use terms and words and talk about things that I am not comfortable with and you might not be comfortable with either. 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. "
38 " Two worlds exist in a Shoshoni tribe. A world of women and a world of men. The two worlds overlap, creating a slice of coexistence, a place of shared toil and trouble and dependence on one another, but there are still two worlds. Maybe it’s the same among all tribes, all Indians. All people. "
39 " won’t make those things go away. Hating never fixed anything. "
40 " I don’t cry either; I can’t...grief is draining. I am hoarding my strength and my stamina for life, and I will not spend it on death "