The collection / 40 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

I’d rather not know what lies ahead because I like the dark. I like thinking there is something good in the places I can’t see. And that’s not ignorance. That’s just hope.

Caroline George / quote

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02Undated

When you find a truth that surpasses your desire to fit trends and meet approval, you can be certain it’s worth fighting to spread.

Caroline George / quote

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03Undated

To cherish my purity and set boundaries are, in my opinion, the highest forms of feminism—a woman who saves her body proves she is strong and secure enough to resist the men who seek to claim her, that she’s more than what lies between her legs.

Caroline George / quote

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04Undated

I twist and pin my hair at the nape of my neck, and then stand with legs wide. It’s what Nash told me to do before speaking because men, no matter how many times they profess women are equal, prefer to take direction from bodies like theirs.

Caroline George / quote

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05Undated

You don’t know what love is until you find it,” he whispered, “but when you do, promise me you won’t let it go. Promise you’ll seek it out even when you’re scared it’ll hurt.

Caroline George / quote

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06Undated

The truth is crazier than lies because lies are required to stick to possibilities—the truth isn’t.

Caroline George / quote

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07Undated

What does a freelance researcher do?” “Researches things.” He winks at me and helps lift my bike onto a cobblestone walkway. “It’s not an interesting or particularly sexy job. Nobody wants to date a perpetual studier, but I bet there’s an army of guys crawling over each other to get to you.”More like crawling away. “You’re ridiculous. Who’d ever want to date me?”“Someone like you? There’d be a line at your door as soon as work got out.”“Oh, would you be in the line?” Sarcasm. Not a real question. I don’t care if he responds—heat burns my toes, ears, and everything in-between—well, maybe I care a little.Jack pauses and gazes into me. “Yeah … I’m in the line … and I’m better than all the other guys so you should really pick me. I’m funny. I’m strong, like, I could sweep you off your feet and run without breaking a sweat. I can also blow milk through my nose, but only if I’m drunk and the milk is warm.

Caroline George / quote

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08Undated

There comes a moment when we must choose how we’re going to love someone. Some forms of love leave a sweet memory once they’re gone, others leave scars. But there are forms that when stolen, destroy part of who we are—love that transforms us.

Caroline George / quote

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09Undated

Are you real?” Stupid. Of course he’s real.“Yes, Julie. I’m not the mystical man from your dreams.

Caroline George / quote

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10Undated

If a boy can manage to have coffee with me during the apocalypse, I know he cares. There’s not a speck of doubt in my mind. He must care.

Caroline George / quote

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11Undated

You’re different, and I know that’s probably the most cliché response ever given, but it’s the truth. When I look at you, it’s as if I’m reading a novel. No matter how much time I spend studying your pages, there will always be more for me to learn, deeper layers of complexity to baffle me, and plot twists that’ll leave me speechless.

Caroline George / quote

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12Undated

After the end of the world, there is a world. Life doesn’t stop. It changes. And it changes me.

Caroline George / quote

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13Undated

If I seem to not want to be with him now, it’s only because love scares me too, more than manipulation, because love is a choice I make and not something forced upon me. I trust him, but I don’t trust myself. I must have time to trust myself so I can completely love him.He’s the grenade. I’m the grenade. We’ll blow each other to pieces… Together.

Caroline George / quote

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14Undated

Yes,” I whisper so the others won’t hear, “but being afraid is good because it means I still have more to lose.

Caroline George / quote

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15Undated

People have always expected the end of the world to be a dramatic, thematic event: war, disease, a sudden explosion. But what if the end of the world has already occurred? What if our final demise happened slowly, secretly … and we’ve been oblivious to it all?

Caroline George / quote

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16Undated

Men tend to treat women as fragile creatures, but our bodies were built to withstand pain and hard work, think with profound insight. We were created to do what men can’t. And if that isn’t reason enough for us to be treated equal, I’m not sure what is.

Caroline George / quote

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17Undated

I am strong and human with a mouth that works like a man’s and a more intelligible brain, and I demand to be heard.

Caroline George / quote

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18Undated

Our surroundings fade and we exist in unison, two people who once shared cups of coffee, unprecedentedly ourselves in a changing world.

Caroline George / quote

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19Undated

There is only one thing in this world worse than dying and that’s watching someone you love die instead—you feel their pain with no final solace.

Caroline George / quote

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20Undated

Sometimes you find a lie, and sometimes it finds you.

Caroline George / quote

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21Undated

We didn’t cause the apocalypse…”“But we were too dumb to see it,” she snaps. “That was our mistake.

Caroline George / quote

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22Undated

We know your secret.And we won’t be made invisible.

Caroline George / quote

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23Undated

Never has it been inappropriate for a girl to wear a red dress.

Caroline George / quote

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24Undated

It wouldn’t be very ladylike to punch a guy in the balls, but it isn’t very manlike to harass a woman because she has different parts and a sweet face.

Caroline George / quote

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