#authoress

I feel so frightened of being hurt — not of the suffering, which I know I can handle, but the indignity of the suffering, the indignity of being open to it.

—Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You.

Maybe eventually we will just drop out of each other’s lives, or become friends after all, or something else. But whatever happens will at least be the result of this experiment, which feels at times like it’s going badly wrong, and at other times feels like the only kind of relationship worth having.

Sally Rooney, Beautiful World Where Are You.

His hand moves over her hair and he adds:

I love you. I’m not just saying that, I really do.

Her eyes fill up with tears again and she closes them. Even in memory she will find this moment unbearably intense, and she’s aware of this now, while it’s happening. She has never believed herself fit to be loved by any person.

Sally Rooney, Normal People.

I told him I believed in hell, and that certain people, like me, had to live in hell before they died.

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar