Quotes About Freedom

When I looked at my university classmates, I heard in their voices and saw in their lives a freedom I felt had been unfairly taken from me. How oblivious they seemed of their good fortune. I compensated by studying harder, by trying to outdo everyone, to defy—what? I didn't know. It's no wonder that I became such a solitary young woman.

one of the joys of marriage is that one can be bad again.

You are the husband of my heart, and the love of my life. Wherever I am, whatever I do, you are joined with me and I with you. The part of me that matters will live with you forever. I accept the chain that binds us with joy, because in this unity I have known the purest freedom.

Because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.

You threw me to the crows, but it turns out I prefer them to you.

I found myself grinning until my cheeks hurt, my scalp prickling till I thought it might lift off my head. My tongue ran away from me, giddy with freedom. This, and this, and this, I said to him. I did not have to fear that I spoke too much. I did not have to worry that I was too slender, or too slow. This and this and this! I taught him how to skip stones, and he taught me how to carve wood. I could feel every nerve in my body, every brush of air against my skin.

A golden cage is still a cage.

I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open.

Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.

I had been old and stern for so long, carved with regrets and years like a monolith. But that was only a shape I had been poured into. I did not have to keep it.

Will I feel his ashes as they fall against mine? I think of the snowflakes on Pelion, cold on our red cheeks. The yearning for him is like hunger, hollowing me. Somewhere his soul waits, but it is nowhere I can reach. Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free. His ashes settle among mine, and I feel nothing.

That is what exile meant: no one was coming, no one ever would. There was fear in that knowledge, but after my long night of terrors it felt small and inconsequential. The worst of my cowardice had been sweated out. In its place was a giddy spark. I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. I stepped into those woods and my life began.

With every step I felt lighter. An emotion was swelling in my throat. It took me a moment to recognize what it was. I had been old and stern for so long, carved with regrets and years like a monolith. But that was only a shape I had been poured into. I did not have to keep it.

I will not sentence myself to such a living death.

I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open. I stepped into those woods and my life began.

The spells hung on us yet I felt weightless.

Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free. His ashes settle among mine, and I feel nothing.

They take what they want, and in return they give you only your own shackles.

I will not be silenced on my own island.

It is done. I will think of them no more. I cast them out and I am finished.

I wanted to roll on the grass like a dog.

Somewhere his soul waits, but it is nowhere I can reach. Bury us, and mark our names above. Let us be free.

there was something in me that was sick of fear and aw, of gazing at the heavens and wondering what someone would allow me

With every step I felt lighter. An emotion was swelling in my throat. It took me a long time to recognize what it was. I had been old and stern for so long, carved with regrets and years like a monolith. But that was only a shape I had been poured into. I did not have to keep it.