Helen Oyeyemi Quotes
born 1984 England
Helen Oyeyemi (December 10, 1984) is a British novelist and writer of short stories.
- England
- Authors
- Novelists
- Short story writers
Also known as: Helen oyeyemi
Random Helen Oyeyemi quote
58 quotes
“She smiled with a scary energy, as if she had been told to at gunpoint.”
“Her heart's breaking. It breaks three times a week on account of people treating her so badly, and she knows that all you can do is laugh it off.”
The water was so cold on her skin that it felt dry.”
“She thought I hadn't seen her, but she's no good at hiding her intentions. She can't help tiptoeing around with a finger to her lips at key moments.”
“As always, the soucouyant seemed more lonely than bad. Maybe that was her trick, her ability to make it so you couldn't decide if she was a monster.”
“I've read that madness is present when everything you see and hear takes on an equal significance. A dead bird makes you cry, and so does a doorknob.”
“She is a double danger—there is the danger of meeting her, and the danger of becoming her. Does the nightmare of her belong to everyone, or just to me?”
“The first coffee of the morning is never, ever, ready quickly enough. You die before it’s ready and then your ghost pours the resurrection potion out of the moka pot.”
“She had had such a strong feeling that she needed to talk to someone who would tell her some secret that would make everything alright. She had been unable to think who it was.”
"Maybe Jessamy has all these 'attacks' because she can't make up her mind whether she's black or white!" (Chapter 2, Page 13)
The Icarus Girl (2005)
“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.”
“If you should find yourself in a place that is indifferent to you and there is someone there that your spirit stretches to, then that person is kin.”
I sometimes consider a story’s anti-heroine to be an embodied protest against the set of ideals the narrative upholds in the form of the perfect heroine.
"Words describing white people, white things, every single story spun out in some place where WE don’t exist! It has no value; in my eyes, it is to confuse.”
The Icarus Girl (2005)
"Jess’s father is upset and confused, saying to Jess’s grandfather, “One minute you’re telling her to think on Jesus and the next you’re calling a witch doctor!” (Page 236).
The Icarus Girl (2005)
“I was so jealous it burned, and I knew I had to let it alone or I'd break something inside me.”
“The whole thing was so intense, so full of hurt that when I look back at it I squint. I want it forgotten.”
“I love sleeping. Waking is more and more hateful the older I get. I say this as if I've lived too long. I'm twenty-two.”
"You don’t return people’s smiles—it’s perfectly clear to you that people can smile and smile and still be villains." Boy, Snow, Bird (2014) p 8
“I almost forgot to mention another fox I know of—a very wicked fox indeed. But you are tired of hearing about foxes now, so I won't go on.”