You raze the old to raise the new.

There is real comfort in being quiet.

What was so miraculous about a relationship that was based more on my gratitude than on mutual self respect?

You would be surprised what two hours of daily exercise and five hundred stomach crunches can do for you.

What would it be like to look in the mirror and actually accept what you see? Not loathe the reflection, or despise it, or be resigned to it? But to like it?

Teachers wondered why I didn't speak up more in class. Why would I when I knew how precarious words could be, how betraying they were, how vulnerable they made you?

From her dubious tone alone, I could see how Karin had no idea how terrifying words spoken quietly could be. How words chosen precisely to wreak maximum damage ticked like a bomb in your head, but exploded in your heart hours later, leaving you scarred and changed.