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Quote by Roseanna M. White

“She'd lived a lot of years on this tiny little island, a dot in the Atlantic. Home to pirates, home to ships' captains, home to innkeepers and fishermen and Coasties. Home to generations of stubborn people determined to stand, though the sands may shift. To thrive, though the waters may rise. To go on living, though the storms may rage.”

Quote by Roseanna M. White

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Yesterday's Tides

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Roseanna M. White

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“It would seem as if progress would benefit the underprivileged above all others, but in reality it is oftener the case that the townspeople are more disposed to consent to radical change; their frenetic environment fosters a sort of flightiness that must be appeased by resorting to anything which resembles a novelty. All of this is a requisite for large towns, for the intricate connection of enterprises, occupations and maintenances requires all citizens to have a tractable disposition, lest everything collapse by the idleness of the obdurate mind. Peasants, however, live by the old ways. Nay, even if they be destitute or famished, they shall nevertheless not fail to adhere to those values which they and their antecedents have always esteemed, because that is how they have always lived, and shall always live. Their environment is serene, and they need not follow novelty to maintain their livelihoods. If one imprisons an animal for a protracted period of time, it shall eventually forgo the taste of freedom. And so these former slaves – for that is essentially what they were four years ago – have become dependent on the fetters, and cannot continue to endure without complete subservience.”

“You see, it's easy for someone to walk around telling everyone that they're "jus' waitin' for the right opportunity," but an entirely different thing when they actually receive it. An opportunity means change. An opportunity means action. But most of all, an opportunity means the chance of failure. And it's the potential of failure, more than failure itself, that stops so many people from beginning anything.”

“At 9, with her stew more reduced than any set of freedoms could ever be, she decides she fancies a baked potato with it. We sit down an hour later and something about the lateness of the meal prompts her to bring up the family 'holidays' they used to take down in Devon. (She puts the word in scare quotes because as far as she's concerned a woman's work was never done.) She says there was something magical about those holidays, now that she thinks about it. 'We bought that cottage for fourteen grand. You couldn't get a back door for that money nowadays. But that's what happens. Things change. I mean, look at me. If I found myself in the back of the fridge I wouldn't think twice about throwing myself out.' I ask if she worries about getting old. She snorts. At the question's stupidity. 'The trouble with death,' she says, 'is that it stops you doing things.”

“If you dare to make a momentous change to your life, love everyone and let go of all expectations. Lavish self-nurturing all over yourself each day. Fill yourself with the love and affection of nature. Feel sovereign and successful just as you are and watch how the Universe honors you wholly.”