I love taking things out of context and playing with them and chopping up rules. — Helen Oyeyemi Chopping Copy Share Image
Nobody ever warned me about mirrors, so for many years I was fond of them, and believed them to be trustworthy. . . — Helen Oyeyemi Inspirational Copy Share Image
“It was the usual struggle between one who loves by accepting burdens and one who loves by refusing to be” — Helen Oyeyemi Adversity Copy Share Image
“ The water is very green and has a sweet taste, both boys wrote in their diaries, at different times.” — Helen Oyeyemi Diaries Copy Share Image
“Other things my best friend said to me: That two years was but a short span.” — Helen Oyeyemi Best friend Copy Share Image
And she walked away, and she walked away, and that was that, and that was that. — Helen Oyeyemi Away Copy Share Image
Sometimes I feel weird about time. Sometimes I feel that it doesnt go in the order we perceive it. There are... repetitions… — Helen Oyeyemi About Copy Share Image
“Rowan's physical effect- godlike jawline, long-lashed eyes, umber skin, rakish quiff of hair- is that of lightening strike.” — Helen Oyeyemi Rowan Copy Share Image
So many times I've encountered people who are just kind of like, 'Yeah, Nigeria,' and, you know, thump their chest and seem… — Helen Oyeyemi Kind Copy Share Image
I don't think anything can help me socially, to be honest: I have this terrible personality. I don't really know how to… — Helen Oyeyemi Anything Copy Share Image
“Sometimes a child with wise eyes is born. Then some people will call that child an old soul. That is enough to… — Helen Oyeyemi Children Copy Share Image
Because he says he can't stand you and you act like you can't stand him, and whenever a man and a woman… — Helen Oyeyemi Behave Copy Share Image
“How did it go from "Füst should apologize to the woman he beat up" to "Füst should apologize to his fiancée" to… — Helen Oyeyemi Apologize Copy Share Image
“We’re friendly toward strangers because of a general belief (I don’t know where it comes from) that we’re born strangers and that… — Helen Oyeyemi Faith Copy Share Image
“I think it's swell that there are people you don't have to worry about when you don't see them for a long… — Helen Oyeyemi Friends Copy Share Image
The girl was lighter without her heart. She danced barefoot on the hot roads, and her feet were not cut by the… — Helen Oyeyemi Barefoot Copy Share Image
“What do you want, Mary Foxe? My husband?" “I believe in him," she said slowly. I wondered if she’d ever told him… — Helen Oyeyemi Believe Copy Share Image
Once you let people know anything about what you think, that's it, you're dead. Then they'll be jumping about in your mind,… — Helen Oyeyemi Butterfly Copy Share Image
“Two hungry people should never make friends. If they do, they eat each other up. It is the same with one person… — Helen Oyeyemi Friendship Copy Share Image
I don't feel there's a difference between the real world and the fairy-tale world. They contain psychological truths and, I guess, projections… — Helen Oyeyemi About Copy Share Image
“There were days when he touched the tip of her nose and it was enough, a miracle of plenty. But who finds… — Helen Oyeyemi Happiness Copy Share Image
“have liked for him to say my name again, though. You know how it is when someone says your name really well,… — Helen Oyeyemi Bacon Copy Share Image
“And I think I decided not to love Charlie because I thought I had to be rescued. For practical reasons but also… — Helen Oyeyemi Fairy tales Copy Share Image
“Safiye looked as if she was formed of fire herself, particles of flame dancing the flesh of her arm into existence. That… — Helen Oyeyemi Fire Copy Share Image
“A rustle handle turning, or a wooden door forced open until its hinges buckle, or to me, to me it was the… — Helen Oyeyemi Hear Trees Copy Share Image
I was a real mess at school. I got a bit of a reputation for being the weird girl: the girl who'd… — Helen Oyeyemi Being Copy Share Image
Wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking. The poem tells me it’s no big deal that I’m not… — Helen Oyeyemi Big deal Copy Share Image
“He was talented, at an age when other boys were horrible kissers, just horrible and sloppy. I was fourteen then, and he… — Helen Oyeyemi Helen-oyeyemi Copy Share Image
“Sometimes I do what I say I’m going to do, but more often I don’t. It’s a failing. The least of my… — Helen Oyeyemi Failing Copy Share Image
I wish there was someone I could have written to after that, someone I could have written to explain how awful it… — Helen Oyeyemi Awful Copy Share Image
I tend to prioritize emotional realism above the known laws of time and space, and when you do that, it's inevitable that… — Helen Oyeyemi Above Copy Share Image
Imagine having a mother who worries that you read too much. The question is, what is it that's supposed to happen to… — Helen Oyeyemi Imagine Copy Share Image
“With boys there was a fundamental assumption that they had a right to be there—not always, but more often than not. With… — Helen Oyeyemi Boys Copy Share Image
“So Mr. Pizarsky had been a poet? That was how he’d said it: “I was a poet." As if the poet had… — Helen Oyeyemi Personalities Copy Share Image
If you should find yourself in a place that is indifferent to you and there is someone there that your spirit stretches… — Helen Oyeyemi Finding yourself Copy Share Image
“If you've...got someone within ten minutes' walk who can make you laugh and someone else within a five-minute walk who can help… — Helen Oyeyemi Millionaire Copy Share Image
Fairy tales, because they have a very clear structure, are easier to interfere with. Also they have this really weird logic: the… — Helen Oyeyemi Also Copy Share Image
I don't despise 'Don Quixote,' but it is a book I don't... get. I'll have to come back it. Maybe there'll be… — Helen Oyeyemi Back Copy Share Image
“I think they must have recognized something in each other, some poorly concealed intensity that other people find nerve-racking.” — Helen Oyeyemi Nerve Racking Copy Share Image
“… there’s a difference between having no one because you’ve chosen it and having no one because everyone has been taken away.” — Helen Oyeyemi Difference Copy Share Image
