Female Protagonist Quotes

“People can always say I don't look impressive enough, but they can't argue over how strong I am once I punch them in the face.”
― F.C. Yee, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

“How dare a person tell a woman, how to dress, how to talk, how to behave! Any being who does that, is no human.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The Bengal Tigress: A Treatise on Gender Equality

“When I grow up, maybe I will be
the first one to circle the sea.
Or maybe I will just spend all my day
doing everything my way.
Maybe I will be in a world of my own
I just hope not alone.
I just know that whatever I do
I will never, ever forget about you.”
― Oliver Neubert, Chantel's Quest for the Silver Leaf

“I mean, honestly? That's wife material. Like, three kids and a dog material. If she looked at me the way she looks at you, my IUD would have shot out like a party popper.”
― Casey McQuiston, One Last Stop

“What is it about a woman in full control of herself that is so utterly frightening?”
― Rachel Harrison, Cackle

“I kill my own monsters.”
― Hannah F. Whitten, For the Throne

“She treads like a shadow and stalks like a dream...terribly close, but always out of reach.”
― Glenn Parris, Dragon’s Heir: The Archeologist’s Tale

“Strange, what she used to be afraid of.”
― Hannah F. Whitten, For the Throne

“For years my goal was to minimize myself—to fold and refold myself into a polygon of nothingness, to be too insignificant to be remembered. I wanted to appear innocent; I wanted to be thought of as quiet and harmless; I was worried always about how my very existence was terrifying to others and I did everything in my power to diminish myself, my light, my soul.
I wanted so desperately to placate the innocent. I wanted so badly to appease the assholes who judged me without knowing me that I lost myself in the process.
But now?
Now, I laugh. Out loud.
Now, I don't give a shit.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Restore Me

“A wonder came over her as she considered how much further she could grow.”
― Kalynn Applewhite, Awakening Anne

“Camus, I don’t want to keep playing this game of hide and seek knowing I’m going to lose. If I go down, I go down in flames. Fighting.”
― Alexandra Ding, A City Without Birds

“A blur? Hardly. She'd give anything for a blur.”
― Kat Elle, Epoch

“How strange, thought Blanca, that she should only realize how miserable she was when threatened with happiness.”
― Kat Elle, Epoch

“You have a good heart, Zoey."
Zoey smiled. "Thanks."
"A weird fascination with this family, but a good heart.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, Other Birds: A Novel

“You cannot punish her, she will take the punishment and laugh in your face, then tear the place down afterwards.”
― Shauna Richmond, Shattered Steel

“Don't take another step forward,” Evelyn said, drawing her battered sword. "We'll be on our way."
The men's laughter echoed across the clearing. "Powers above, Chet, we've got ourselves a fuckin' fighter 'ere. Watch out.”
― Lucy A. McLaren, Awakening

“Never tell an angry woman to calm down. Never.
Even if she should.
Especially if she should.”
― Cate Lawley, Twinkles Takes a Holiday

“There wasn’t enough room in her stomach for both food and fear.”
― Nicole T. Smith, We Have Shadows Too

“People associated emotion with the heart, but other organs had to feel them too.”
― Nicole T. Smith, We Have Shadows Too

“Memories are never entirely silent. They murmur in your cells, shadow the mind, knock at the door.”
― Nicole T. Smith, We Have Shadows Too

“Rella was exhausted. She just wanted a life where she wouldn’t have to talk about it.”
― Nicole T. Smith, We Have Shadows Too

“It seemed impossible that I was supposed to keep loving - even revering - my body as it decomposed in slow motion. Why not give in and have low self-esteem? Maybe I could slay in that way instead.”
― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually

“A small bubble of self-esteem percolated up from my depths.”
― Jo Ann Beard, The Fourth State of Matter

“People always complain if the female character isn’t outgoing, outspoken, and feisty. She has to be strong, courageous, funny, and just…out there. If the character isn’t, then the book gets blasted...Well, I’ve thought about this a lot, and it makes me think people believe there’s something wrong with being quiet, introverted, and shy. Like, those are personality flaws, and people in real life who have them aren’t good enough to have characters based on them. Or people like me aren’t good enough.”
― J.M. Brister, The Town Liar

“Bickford is a legend from the world of espionage. A five star read.”
― James Adams, The Next World War: Computers Are the Weapons & the Front Line Is Everywhere

“Strap yourself in for one hell of a ride.”
― Bear Grylls, Bear Grylls - A Survival Guide For Life

“The protagonist of Grey Eminence was Amália, the world's first climate change artist* and the first person to exceed a billion followers on Instagram, making her a sort of global empress, unprecedented in the history of Earth. She was also Portugal's foremost performer of fado, a gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics, excellent at baking, and capable of taming the aurochs she summoned back from extinction to revivify Lascaux.

*What the author means here is that Amália was the first to view climate change itself as an art. Her oeuvre was above all a radical reinterpretation of the still life. She practiced extinction as well as large-scale action sculptures that undid or outmaneuvered natural processes such as decomposition and promoted catastrophes when opportunities--- weather-related or other--- arose.”
― Jennifer Croft, The Extinction of Irena Rey

“HEROES?” I laughed. “Look at the world! There’s nothing heroic about it… No, this world could burn, for all I care… and so could everyone in it.”
― iLana Markarov, The Timekeeper's Secret

“This just proves how far you and the others are willing to go to keep things hidden.”
― iLana Markarov, The Timekeeper's Secret

“She was filled with a sense of expectancy — as if at any moment something very wonderful could happen.”
― Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls