#growing-up

"Brooklyn was a dream. All the things that happened there just couldn't happen. It was all dream stuff. Or was it all real and true and was it that she, Francie, was the dreamer?"

"If you didn't grow up like I did then you don't know, and if you don't know it's probably better you don't judge."

"From the ages of 8-18, me and my family moved around a lot. Mostly we would just stretch, but occasionally one of us would actually get up to go to the fridge."

"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."

"I haven’t been very impressed lately.By people,or places,or the way someone said he loved me and then slowly changed his mind."

"So many people will tell you ”no”, and you need to find something you believe in so hard that you just smile and tell them ”watch me”. Learn to take rejection as motivation to prove people wrong. Be unstoppable. Refuse to give up, no matter what. It’s the best skill you can ever learn."

"Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything."

"She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city"

"When I touched her body,I believed she was God.In the curves of her formI found the birth of Man,the creation of the world,and the origin of all life."

"It's not always easy being her daughter.' I think,' she said, 'sometimes it's hard no matter whose daughter you are."

"When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser."

"I want to be the best version of myself for anyone who is going to someday walk into my life and need someone to love them beyond reason."

"Does our purpose on Earth directly link to the people whom we end up meeting? Are our relationships and experiences actually the required dots that connect and then lead us to our ultimate destinies?"

"Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be."

"High school will probably be better. I mean, some kids will still be jerks, but it's not so bad if you have at least one good friend. Someone who gets you."

"Everything hurts right now and nothing is helping because as the pain is getting worse — so is the love."

"This is your life – not your parents’, teachers’ or significant other’s. If you ever find yourself on a path that just doesn’t feel safe anymore, you have every right to stop the car, get out – change your shoes and start walking."

"I’m going to follow this invisible red thread until I find myself again… until I finally figure out… who I’m meant to be."

"Even if we try to conform to ideals and strive for perfection, we will always be pulled back to our core identity because it’s the path of least resistance for our souls – an energy force that wants nothing more than for us to honor and accept who we are and discover what we’re meant to do in the world."

"He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activites in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all."