Top 50 Victoria Helen Stone Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “People cause pain. Even good people hurt those they love. We all do it because we can’t help it. Most of us aren’t evil; we’re just stupid and flawed and not careful with others.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

2. “All those jokes about the clitoris being hard to find? Come on. It’s right there near the top of the vulva every time. There’s maybe one square inch of possibility, and they still can’t work it out. The sheer incompetence astounds me.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

3. “The world didn’t stop turning, no matter what happened. Even during the darkest tragedies life went on, unaware and cruel, completely unconcerned with whether you could manage to catch up.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

4. “Why get married if you want to sleep with other people? Why stay if you suspect he’s cheating and that hurts your feelings? Why fight and bicker and scream if the other person decides they’re ready to go? If someone wants to leave, the only thing to do is move on. Find someone else. Have some pride.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

5. “They like a woman with no shame. We’re rare, you see, because we’re told to be ashamed of everything every day by everyone. Ashamed to give them what they want, ashamed not to want to give it to them. Ashamed to show our average bodies, ashamed not to have a perfect one. I have no idea how normal women date. The world seems like it’d be an unbearable place for people with real feelings.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

6. “Even love comes with strings attached. We fall in love with people because of how they make us feel. We don’t just fall in love with any random kind person we encounter. It’s more than admiration. It’s sizzling need. Your need, not theirs. Your crush, your wants, your desire for them. Everyone is a monster, as far as I can tell. I’m not alone in this.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

7. “When other people are suffering, it’s because they’re not righteous. But when our people suffer, it’s only a test of faith.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

8. “Did I lose her? It’s more like she made herself disappear. I know exactly where she is. She’s not here. And that was what she wanted.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

9. “I don’t hate them; I just don’t understand why people feel the need to try over and over with toxic family members.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

10. “She was her own person now. Her own being. Old and new selves together, all her strengths and weaknesses combined into someone she couldn’t wait to know.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

11. “If she’d had any hint that a new man was going to see her naked this year, she would have put a little more effort into her New Year’s resolution to get in shape.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

12. “My parents are still alive, still together, and they love me, I suppose. But they love me the way a careless child loves a pet. Too much attention one day, absolute neglect the next. The changes in current were too much for me to survive when I was young, so my brain learned to ride above them. It’s not something I think about now. It’s natural. I observe people’s emotions, but I rarely participate.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

13. “Erections and guilt can’t exist in the same plane. One makes way for the other.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

14. “With me she was larger-than-life and bursting with goodness. I never understood this other side of her. She would shrug and say she felt shy with men she liked, but that wasn’t it. It wasn’t shyness. It was fading. She dimmed her light to make a certain kind of man feel vibrant.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

15. “I don’t regret it. I loved every second.” Her hands were shaking as she set the phone down on the bed. This wasn’t about Gary or Juliette anymore. It had nothing to do with anyone except Evelyn and Noah. He wanted her. She wanted him. And there was no one around to stop them.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

16. “Where I grew up, everyone believed in God. Everyone worshipped Jesus. And they were all poor and miserable and suffering. They lost jobs and children and dignity, but that only made them pray harder. I recognize a con when I see one.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

17. “The constant jostling for superiority had made her skittish. She hadn’t trusted any of those moms. Certainly not enough to exchange secrets.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

18. “Maybe I should get a cat. The thought invades my head fully formed and utterly obvious. A cat. Another little sociopath to curl up beside me at night and keep me warm.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

19. “Why had she ever cared?”

— Victoria Helen Stone

20. “It wasn’t just the past you walked away from in a divorce; you walked away from your future as well. Everything you’d expected from life was changed.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

21. “Evelyn suspected there was never true equality in marriage. Someone always had stronger feelings, or held the purse strings, or was more persuasive, powerful, and pushy.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

22. “Her real purse was shoved under the passenger seat, stuffed full of receipts and Kleenex and hand sanitizer and Band-Aids and cough drops and an emergency flashlight and anything else that any person in the world might need from her while she was near. An eternal diaper bag for the eternal mother.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

23. “She didn’t have to be a victim forever. She could choose to be happy. Choose to let go of some of this awful fury.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

24. “Love was temporary. So was lust. And happiness, confidence, trust. And marriage. Especially that.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

25. “Her muscles ached with the sudden surge of power. Because this was power. The power to do exactly what she wanted and tell everyone else they could go to hell. She’d spent far too many years worrying about everyone else and not herself.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

26. “But the bits of old Evelyn still tucked deep inside noticed only enough of the scene to know that new Evelyn did not give a damn.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

27. “She loved having secrets. She loved that no one in her life knew everything about her. She was a puzzle, and only she had all the pieces.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

28. “Evelyn pressed a hand to her forehead. If only she hadn’t been so tired, so high, she would know. She would trust her instincts. But what kind of instincts made you think a ghost had walked from the forest?”

— Victoria Helen Stone

29. “If someone wants to leave, the only thing to do is move on. Find someone else. Have some pride.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

30. “Today she wasn’t a mom or office worker or school volunteer. She was a confident artist. A sexual being. A woman scorned. She was a force to be reckoned with. The.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

31. “Funny how the lens of childhood always cast adults with so much freedom and strength. She’d been far freer as a child. Happier too. And she’d damn sure been more determined. Now it felt as if all her strength went into making it through the day. Just one more day. They added up eventually, or so she kept telling.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

32. “After all, everyone knows that women are responsible for how men behave. If we’re not careful, they might decide to take what they want. They can’t help it. But somehow I’m the one with the psychological impairment.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

33. “All I know is books are better.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

34. “We’re rare, you see, because we’re told to be ashamed of everything every day by everyone.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

35. “I told you. She was having car trouble. Or that’s what she said, anyway. I’m not sure I believed it, but she was near panic.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

36. “That doesn’t explain why you keep ignoring my emails!” Jackie Arthur squawked over the line. The man definitely seemed to be heading toward the gallery as he pulled a key ring out of his pocket and twirled it around one finger. He had light-brown hair like the man in the pictures she’d seen, but sunglasses blocked too much of his face from view. She wished he’d take them off so she could be sure.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

37. “He understands women in that very simple way so many men never grasp. He knows we are raised in danger. He views our respect as a gift.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

38. “She might have come in the gallery faking the stride of a sexual, confident, dangerous woman, but on the way out, it was all real.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

39. “Aren’t you worried?” “About what?” “You know what.” There was warmth in his words, as if he were remembering. “I doubt anyone would care,” she said honestly. If Gary caught her cheating he’d probably be thrilled. It’d be something for him to use against her. Leverage against the great weight of his crime.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

40. “Love. It’s weakness. Vulnerability. It’s waiting for an inevitable wound and then praying it will someday heal.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

41. “For that one moment, he sounded vulnerable. She’d caught him off guard, exposed, and those three startled syllables made him sound more like the boy she’d fallen in love with than he had in years.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

42. “The gallery was a neat, pale square of white paint and glossy windows among the colorful shops of the street. The glare of the sun kept her from seeing anything of the art on display behind the glass, but the work listed on the website was nicely curated. A couple of local artists mixed in with more expensive pieces.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

43. “They didn’t fight often. Didn’t hate each other. Things were peaceful, calm, steady. Steady. Like a rock. Or something dead.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

44. “My cat appears and rubs her cheek against me in approval. She understands exactly. The kill is fun, but toying with your prey is really the best part.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

45. “She’d isolated herself. She’d become smaller to make room for his presence.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

46. “Because the truth was that she belonged anywhere she wanted to be, and she was beautiful just for being brave.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

47. “She’d willingly traded herself for this life. Now it was all teetering on an abyss.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

48. “She’d made those choices out of fear, and she wasn’t afraid anymore. From now on, if something was important to her, she would demand it. Because the truth was that she belonged anywhere she wanted to be, and she was beautiful just for being brave.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

49. “The idea of being brave alone seemed nearly impossible. It was all up to her. Just her. It always had been.”

— Victoria Helen Stone

50. “We could do what we want, Noah. This doesn’t have to change anything. No one has to know.” The words tripped from her without will. She could hardly believe they were hers.”

— Victoria Helen Stone