I never excelled academically, and took some pride in "not fulfilling my potential," in part because I was terrified that if I tried my hardest, the world would learn that I didn't actually have that much potential.

it's that thing when you're with someone, and you love them and they know it, and they love you and you know it... but it's a party... and you're both talking to other people, and you're laughing and shining... and you look across the room and catch each other's eyes... but - but not because you're possessive, or it's precisely sexual... but because... that is your person in this life. and it's funny and sad, but only because this life will end, and it's this secret world that exists right there in public, unnoticed, that no one else knows about. it's sort of like how they say that other dimensions exist all around us, but we don't have the ability to perceive them. that's - that's what I want out of a relationship. or just life, i guess.
- Frances Ha

And a woman can never really be thin enough, that's the problem. To be an empirically attractive young man, you just have to have a nice smile, an average body type (give or take a stone) a bit of hair and be wearing an all-right jumper. To be a desirable woman - the sky's the limit. Have every surface of your body waxed. Have manicures every week. Wear heels every day. Look like a Victoria's Secret Angel even though you work in an office. It's not enough to be an average-sized woman with a bit of hair and an all-right jumper. That doesn't cut it. We're told we have to look like the women who are paid to look like that as their profession.

I cannot remember the last moment I enjoyed without the looming thought of when it might end.

“Have you no hope at all? And do you really live with the thought that when you die, you die, and nothing remains?"
“Yes," I said.

Sometimes I pretend to myself that I have insomnia. When what I really have is a good book and inadequate respect for tomorrow.

"They say you know nothing at eighteen. But there are things you know at eighteen that you will never know again."