“I don’t know who I was trying to impress. I did not want a boyfriend; I did want romance. I wanted passion; I did not want to be someone who was known as easy. I was desperate to be touched; I was terrified of being ruined.” RomanceGrowing UpComing Of AgeBeing In LoveBeing Young Book:The Rachel Incident Source: The Rachel Incident
“I thought of my parents as heads on Easter Island, and it took moving two miles away to realise they had been people all along.” Growing UpParentingParentsGrowing Up Quotes Book:The Rachel Incident Source: The Rachel Incident
“Lily isn't dirty, per se; it's just that she doesn't really like to live in her body. She doesn't like to notice it. If she could just be a brain in a jar, reading books and drawing, she'd be much happier.” SadBody ImageSelf ImageSelf Consciousness Book:All Our Hidden Gifts Source: All Our Hidden Gifts
“It's not that we weren't capable of warmth as a family. But we were regularly seduced by the concept of being wronged.” FamilyIrish Culture Book:The Rachel Incident Source: The Rachel Incident
“He was a doctor and I was supposed to take what he said seriously; but he was a dentist and my dad so I didn’t.” ParentsDads Book:The Rachel Incident Source: The Rachel Incident
“Je ne regrette rien," she says softly. "I regret nothing. It's a stupid phrase." "It is?" "If you're an even remotely empathetic or flawed person, you should feel regret. If you behave badly, you should look at it, and learn from it, and go on to treat people better.” PhilosophyRegretMoralityForgiveness Book:All Our Hidden Gifts Source: All Our Hidden Gifts
“I was twenty and I needed two things: to be in love and to be taken seriously.” LoveTwentiesBeing In LoveYoung PeopleBeing Young Book:The Rachel Incident Source: The Rachel Incident
“He talked about the book industry as if it were a dragon that was chained in the basement, and would tear us limb from limb at any moment.” PublishingBooksellersPublishing IndustryIndependent BookstoresBook IndustryIndie Bookstores Book:The Rachel Incident Source: The Rachel Incident
“I guess your gender feel natural to you. I'm jealous," he replies. Then he pauses. Thinks about it. "Except, actually, no. I don't think I am. I used to be. But the more I let myself just exist, the more fun it gets. So I try not to question it or label it. I'm trying to just see everything as.. negotiable.” GenderNonbinaryTrans Experience Book:All Our Hidden Gifts Source: All Our Hidden Gifts