“She would also be creating her own bridal bouquet. She wanted to feel the fragility and softness of each petal. And to make the single flowers stronger than they’d been separately. Just as she was stronger now, together with people who loved and accepted her.”

“She would prove to everyone she could do everything. She wouldn’t let her disability be an excuse, wouldn’t give anyone reason to pity her.”

“I need a friend and you seemed nicest. I think you and I can have more fun than those fake people on the other side.”

“It won’t be the same. Just because we have the choice of having anything we want without having to lift a finger, we don’t have to take the shortcut. As you’ve seen, we enjoy doing most of the things by ourselves. Food cooked or a house built by hand is more precious.”

“I’m here to help you. You deserve more than this world will ever offer you.”

“The reason you’re being treated so badly is because you don’t belong in Mimbeye. As long as you’re there, you’ll experience pain. If you want to escape it, you should come where you belong.”

“I think," Ella said, "that what a woman does or doesn't do should be up to the woman, and she should make up her own mind and not change it when the wind starts to blow. I think a woman should be who she is, not what others expect her to be. And if she wants to go to a dance looking for a man, she should go and not feel like she has to explain herself. And if she want to have her own farm, she should do that and not feel like she has to explain that, either. And…I think you should be quiet now.”