Quotes From "What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours" By Helen Oyeyemi

Other things my best friend said to me: That two...
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Other things my best friend said to me: That two years was but a short span. Helen Oyeyemi
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Lucy happily settled down to work. First she sent for papyrus and handmade a book leaf by leaf, binding the leaves together between board covers. Then she filled each page from memory, drew English roses budding and Chinese roses in full bloom, peppercorn-pink Bourbon roses climbing walls and silvery musk roses drowsing in flowerbeds. She took every rose she'd ever seen, made them as lifelike as she could (where she shaded each petal the rough paper turned silken), and in these lasting forms she offered them to Safiye. . Helen Oyeyemi
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She found Safiye leaning against an oil lantern out in the garden and saw for herself that she wasn't the only foolish woman in the world, or even at that party, for Safiye had Lucy's highly polished bangle in her hand and was turning it this way and that in order to catch fireflies in the billowing, transparent left sleeve of her gown. Helen Oyeyemi
With boys there was a fundamental assumption that they had...
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With boys there was a fundamental assumption that they had a right to be there – not always, but more often than not. With girls, 'Why her?' came up so quickly. Helen Oyeyemi
She had to quickly pop back to the fifteenth century...
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She had to quickly pop back to the fifteenth century to find a word for how beautiful he was. The boy was makeless. Helen Oyeyemi
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She retained the opinions of trees: one of them being that it was best not to have anything to do with human folk. "Firstly, they cut us down, " Rowan said. "Secondly they're all insane, though I suppose they can't help that, being rooted in water instead of earth. Helen Oyeyemi
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It was the usual struggle between one who loves by accepting burdens and one who loves by refusing to be one. Helen Oyeyemi
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I remember Mum repeatedly telling us we had good hearts and good brains. When she said that we'd say 'thanks' and it might have sounded as if we were thanking her for seeing us that way but actually we were thanking her for giving us whatever goodness was in us. Helen Oyeyemi
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With boys there was a fundamental assumption that they had a right to be there–not always, but more often than not. With girls, Why her? came up so quickly. Helen Oyeyemi
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The cards spoke to a suspicion that many whose work is play can never be free of: that you can only flaunt your triviality for so long before punishment is due. Helen Oyeyemi
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The wooden devil got a good laugh out of the ones who passed by, though. They were so funny she couldn't even feel sorry for them. They tried so hard to keep track of time. Whenever they were together they couldn't let sixty of their minutes pass without asking each other what time it was; as if time was a volatile currency that they either possessed or did not possess, when in fact time was more of a fog that rose inexorably over all their words and deeds so that they were either forgotten or misremembered. . Helen Oyeyemi
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This girl had been looking on with her hair hanging over her face, only partly hiding a cruel-looking scar; her eyes shone with hatred. Not necessarily hatred of your father or of puppets or the other children, but a hatred of make-believe, which did not heal, but was only useful to the people who didn't need it. Helen Oyeyemi
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Whenever they were together they couldn't let sixty of their minutes pass without asking each other what time it was; as if time was a volatile currency that they either possessed or did not possess, when in fact time was more of a fog that rose inexorably over all their words and deeds so that their were either forgotten or misremembered. Helen Oyeyemi
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A library at night is full of sounds: the unread books can't stand it any longer and announce their contents, some boasting, some shy, some devious. Helen Oyeyemi