The Change Kirsten Miller Quotes

Anger's like rocket fuel. Either it pushes you forward or it burns you alive. - Harriett Osborne

That doesn't offend me. 'Witch' is the label society slaps on women it can't understand or control.

Why do you think women are designed to outlive men? Why do we keep going for thirty years after our bodies can no longer reproduce? Do you think nature meant for those years to be useless? No, of course not. Our lives are designed to have three parts. The first is education. The second, creation. And in part three, we put our experience to use and protect those who are weaker.

Don't know about you, but I like taking up more space.

Justice may be slow, but she’s also relentless.

All recipes are spells and all cooks are witches.

sometimes fuck is the only word that will do,

Anyone who needs a reward to be good isn’t good. They just like rewards. Good people do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

Yes, you’re afraid of me because I’m better than you are. And if you give one talented woman the power she deserves, another will follow. Then another. And together they’ll show that their way is better. Then your whole fake fucking world will come tumbling down.

Consider yourselves warned, motherfuckers.

Everyone you help’s gonna want a piece of you. Give what you can, but you’ll be worthless to all of them unless you stay whole.

in these situations, you followed the rules first. You toed the line. You made sure to cross every t and dot every i. And when that didn’t work, it was time to bring out the goddamned gators.

It wouldn’t have been such a leap, truth be told. She’d been seeing things through men’s eyes for years. Her entire career, men had informed her what was good and what wasn’t. And she’d always assumed they were right.

Only when her magic began to return did she realize just how much she’d given away.

Do you know how beautiful it is to be alive? Do you have any idea how few people really are? You’ve got a spark. And even now, after everything you’ve been through, it’s as strong as ever.

She’d tried so hard to prove she was good enough. And now, with a few simple sentences, Harriett had explained it so plainly. Jo had been good enough all along. They’d made her feel like a failure, when the truth was, they just hadn’t wanted her around. There was nothing she could have done.

Nothing ages a person like poverty and misery,” Harriett said. “Despite what all the ads claim, it’s not skin cream that helps some women keep their glow. The only true youth serum has two ingredients—luck and money.

And in case you haven't noticed, somebody's always killing women.

Our lives our designed to have three parts. The first is education. The second, creation. And in part three, we put our experience to use and protect those who are weaker. This third stage, which you have entered, can be one of incredible power.

Justice may be relentless, as Franklin says, but she’s also hobbled by rules. That’s why I choose vengeance. She’s the only mistress I serve.

She’d taken on the burden of supporting the family only to find herself tending to his fragile ego as well. She loved Art too much to point that out. She just wished he’d get a fucking job.

I'm an adult and this is my house. I can grow what I like in my garden. Wear what I choose. What difference does it make what you or anyone else thinks of as normal? Why the f should I care if you approve?

Fucking witch. You say that as if it’s an insult,

Wisdom and maturity were supposed to go hand in hand. Nessa had turned forty-eight in February, and she still didn't have a clue.

For the first time in my life, I was alone. And for the first time in my life, I knew what the hell I was doing.

Nothing ages a person like poverty and misery

That anger’s like rocket fuel,” she told Jo. “Either it pushes you forward or it burns you alive.

But the Bible says ‘do not kill,’” Nessa reminded her grandmother. “The Commandments only apply to humans,” said the older woman. “Nobody goes to hell for killing a monster.

No one teaches girls how to take care of themselves. We train them to be pretty and kind and polite right before we set them loose in a world filled with wolves. Then we act surprised and horrified when some of them get eaten.

Over the years, she’d trained several smarmy young men who’d gone on to become high-ranking executives. At the time, Jo had assumed it was her fault she’d never risen any higher. The men they’d promoted weren’t juggling a job and motherhood. They never had to scramble when the day care was closed or the babysitter called in sick. So Jo had watched as men who weren’t as smart or diligent or trustworthy as she was worked their way past her toward the company’s C-suite.

Still, she experienced a pang, like a spasm in an organ that had been removed or a cramp in a phantom limb. It faded quickly, and she knew that was the last pain of its kind she would feel. A woman much like her had once loved a man who looked like him. Neither of those people existed anymore.

When they'd first met in their twenties, he'd seemed like such a fascinating mystery. Unfortunately it hadn't taken long to solve it. By the time they were married, Harriet had realized that everything he did was completely predictable. He valued money, sex, status, and food, in that order. Chase was a very simple creature.

Most painful of all, she mourned the time she could have spent with her daughter. She’d tried so hard to prove she was good enough. And now, with a few simple sentences, Harriett had explained it so plainly. Jo had been good enough all along. They’d made her feel like a failure, when the truth was, they just hadn’t wanted her around. There was nothing she could have done.

Her good, solid, middle-class mother had tried so hard to iron out her rough edges—and blamed herself when she realized she hadn’t succeeded. Those rough edges had rubbed quite a few people the wrong way. Somehow Jo had always sensed those weren’t the kind of people she wanted around her. And as she grew older, she saw that those who wanted girls to be docile and disciplined were often the same people who took advantage of them.

And in case you haven’t noticed, somebody’s always killing women.

If you’re old enough to understand all the words, he always said, you’re old enough to read it.

Our lives our designed to have three parts. The first is education. The second, creation. And in part three, we put our experience to use and protect those who are weaker.

When they’d first met in their twenties, he’d seemed like such a fascinating mystery. Unfortunately, it hadn’t taken long to solve it.

Because for people like me, there are two hells,” Nessa said. “One where there’s fire and brimstone and another filled with rich white people. And I don’t want you beating up the first person who asks me to get them a drink.

It’s all about the killers—not the women they kill.

You’ve always been strong, Jo. That’s one of the things I admire most about you. But you have an Achilles’ heel. You get frustrated and impatient when things don’t get done the way you would do them. Then you take on the burdens all by yourself. And you’ll just keep on taking them, one after another, until they finally crush you.” As much as she would have loved to argue, she couldn’t ignore the truth in his words. “What should I do?” “Tell me everything from now on, and let me help you,” he told her. “And let me do it my way. As strong as you are, we’re stronger together. You may be the concrete, but I’m the rebar.” He’d tossed out the last sentence as a joke, but it lingered in Jo’s mind until the sun came up. During the years she’d worked in Manhattan, Art had gotten up early each morning to make her coffee. And he’d greeted her with a drink every night when she got home. They may have been small things, but Jo could have listed a thousand such gestures. Maybe Art hadn’t found success the way she had. Maybe he hadn’t mastered the arts of housecleaning or lawn care. But throughout their marriage, he had given Jo the support she’d needed to grow. She knew that

Someone had spent nine long months making this creature. Whoever her parents were, she must have brought them great joy. Then some demon killed her, dumped her here, wearing her prettiest dress, on the side of a desolate highway.

They live alongside us, she thought. Some work with us. Some fuck us. And some do both. And yet they seem to know absolutely nothing about us.

That doesn’t offend me. ‘Witch’ is the label society slaps on women it can’t understand or control. But feel free to call me Harriett. And you are?

By attractive, you mean young and thin?” “What else would I mean?” “When someone calls you attractive, it means you draw people to you,” Harriett said. “You think a tiny waist and wrinkle-free skin are the only things that can do that?” “Yes, I know. I have a lovely personality.” “I’m not joking. Do you know how beautiful it is to be alive? Do you have any idea how few people really are? You’ve got a spark. And even now, after everything you’ve been through, it’s as strong as ever. That’s what keeps Franklin fluttering around you like a lovesick moth.” “You’re high, Harriett.” “True,” she said. “I am indeed very stoned. But I was also in advertising for twenty-five years. Ad people like me are the ones who convinced women that being attractive was all about rosy cheeks and red lips. You know why? Because we could sell lipstick and bronzer and Botox and juice plans. There was no way to make money off the kind of allure that I’m talking about. So we sold a version of attractiveness you could buy instead. And over time, people forgot there was any other type. But some of us don’t need all the crap at Sephora to draw others to us. And like it or not, you are one of those people, my friend.

Harriet greeted Chase with all the enthusiasm she would have shown a chin hair.

Witch’ is the label society slaps on women it can’t understand or control.

Be careful what you let others have,” Nessa’s mother had advised her the day she graduated from nursing school. “Everyone you help’s gonna want a piece of you. Give what you can, but you’ll be worthless to all of them unless you stay whole.

That anger's like rocket fuel. Either it pushes you forward or it burns you alive.