“
“In this life you have to be your own hero.
By that I mean you have to win whatever it is that matters to you by your own strength and in your own way.
Like it or not, you are alone in a forest, just like all those fairy tales that begin with a hero who’s usually stupid but somehow brave, or who might be clever, but weak as a straw, and away he goes (don’t worry about the gender), cheered on by nobody, via the castles and the bears, and the old witch and the enchanted stream, and by and by (we hope) he’ll find the treasure.”
”—
Jeanette Winterson (The Powerbook)
I mean, we also need other people. We need them constantly. But one of the many things I love about Winterson is that she is so good at articulating both sides of this tension, between being alone, both involuntarily and by something that’s less like choice and more like need, and being the kind of person who will willingly claw your own skin off for the people you love. She is passionate about both, about being alone and being with people. Being loved and being able to survive without love.
(via champagnecandy)(Source: booklover, via champagnecandy)
