The Girl in the Road Quotes

“being looked down upon is good for the soul, good for empathy, good training for a human.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“Lying is so easy and useful, I don't know why I ever stopped.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“So despite all political progress, social advancement, and appearance of acceptance, here was my grandmother speaking the voice of prejudice. It had to be something. If not caste, if not class, then gender. Children must un-train their elders over and over again.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“I’m not a very religious person. I celebrate whatever parts of religion give me an excuse to eat and dance.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“Near dawn, she whispers, “Durga … now we’re bound up.” I clench up. This is it. She’s going to cling to me like Arjuna did. “How so?” “It’s like quantum entanglement. Our bodies have exchanged matter and so now we’re interlinked.” She sounds intimate. I deflect. “I didn’t get that far in nano.” “You learn it second year!” I have to lie again. She’s making me lie. “I switched to comp lit after my first year.” “Oh. Well, it means that if we think of our bodies as particles, our states are the same right now, but then when we separate, we remain entangled. Now it’s impossible to describe you without describing me, and vice versa. We tell each other’s stories by living our own lives.” I feel angry. As angry as I felt euphoric six hours ago. I try to control my voice. “That could be scary. Depending.” “True,” she says. “It means that relationships never end. Once made, they just influence each other backwards and forwards in time, for better or worse.” She nudges my arm open and docks her head against my breast. “But I’d say this is for better.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“Then I hear a hollering. I’ve been seen. The sailors all cheer. They’re waving and clapping and calling out to me. My glotti picks up only some of it, then gets overloaded and confused: FRENCH: Look it’s a walker it’s a walker it’s one of the walkers SOMALI: A man or a woman? Walker FRENCH: Is she alone ARABIC: She is the hero SOMALI: Woman walker ARABIC: She is in the story SOMALI: Who are you with? ARABIC: She is telling a story FRENCH: Have a good trip madame good trip hello mademoiselle ARABIC: Where are your people? SOMALI: Walk to Africa ARABIC: Where is your mother? SOMALI: It’s not too far ARABIC: Is she birthing or dying? SOMALI: You will be all right FRENCH: Mademoiselle you are a one-of-a-kind Adventurer SOMALI: You are mother to a new race FRENCH: Hail Yemaya!”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“I open my eyes and the barefoot girl is staring down at me with her finger in her mouth.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“being looked down upon is good for the soul, good for empathy, good training for a human. The”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“Passing on our right was an army of rainbow women, marching down the street carrying baskets on their heads, full of solar cells, groundnuts, bananas, mobiles, chilies, kola nuts, eggs, and other things I didn’t even have names for, their bodies and heads swathed in colors of sunrises and sunsets. Their bottoms alternated, haunch by haunch, the fabric barely containing their flesh. You”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“I feel like I want to kiss him. Or just thank him with my mouth, somehow.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“Francis explained to me that my presence was a liability, because there was “traffic” that consisted entirely of children, and other countries were paying African governments so much money to stop it that they needed bigger bribes to stay quiet about it.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road

“The men smiled at me in a way that seemed unkind. Then they filed off the truck, one by one. You were standing in the space they had left, shivering in the heat. When the last one departed, your knees buckled and you fell. I ran to you. I didn’t cry because I knew I needed to be strong for you. I asked, What happened? You said, They wanted to take you. In exchange for passing through. Muhammed promised them you were a Muslim, so they let you go. Why did they want to take me? They wanted to hurt you. Why did they want to hurt me? Because someone hurt them. So all they know how to do is hurt someone else. I could tell how furious you were. But you never cried either, not once. You just swallowed it down.”
― Monica Byrne, The Girl in the Road