If everything's under control, you're going too slow. The breezes of the West African night were intimate and shy, licking the hair, sweeping through cotton dresses with unseemly intimacy, then disappearing into the utter blackness. A cynical young person is almost the saddest sight to see, because it means that he or she has gone from knowing nothing to believing in nothing. We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.
Life's a bitch.
You've got to go out and kick ass. Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity to be otherwise. The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination, as are intelligence and necessity when unblunted by formal education. Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives. At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice.