Life Lessons from Princess Winter

Photo by Anders Jildén on Unsplash

Marissa Meyer’s Princess Winter taught me invaluable lessons about sacrifice, the power of kindness and what it means to be strong. She’s sweet, funny and absolutely certifiable, but she also refuses to bend where her beliefs are concerned. Though she lives on the moon, Winter is 100%, relatable human. Here are just a few quotes from her/about her that inspire me to keep my head up.

“She was prettier than a bouquet of roses and crazier than a headless chicken. Fitting in was not an option.” – Marissa Meyer, Winter

I love Dr. Seuss’s line, “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” As a reimagining of Snow White, Winter is The Lunar Chronicles’ “fairest of them all” and can barely act like the princess she is, let alone fit in with a mechanic, a farmer girl and whatever you want to call Cress, who’s been imprisoned on a satellite for seven years. They all stick out. But, unlike her friends, Winter doesn’t really care. I love that about her.

“One should never save cake for later when it can be eaten now.” – Winter

Does this even need an explanation?

“My point is that I am going to figure this out, like I always do. First, we’re going to find a way to get into Artemisia. We’re going to find Cress and rescue Cinder and Wolf. We’re going to overthrow Levana, and by the stars above, we are going to make Cinder a queen so she can pay us a lot of money from her royal coffers and we can all retire very rich and very alive, got it?”

Winter started to clap. “Brilliant speech. Such gumption and bravado.”

Carswell Thorne is a hoot, but he and Winter together always make for whoops-I-lost-my-page laughter. Mostly, though, I like how supportive Winter is of her friends. I’m a big believer in the power of applause to make people feel appreciated.

“Tapping a finger against the flesh of her elbow, she deadpanned, ‘Jacin Clay, there is an assassin under my bed.’” – Marissa Meyer, Winter

This. *holds breath* *squeezes eyes shut* *tries to think of something sad* *bursts out laughing* Winter is crazy, but she isn’t stupid. The way she plays her evil stepmother and her soldiers is priceless. This line reminds me to take myself less seriously.

“She was not a girl of ice and glass at all, but a girl of sunshine and stardust.” – Marissa Meyer, Winter

And here we have my favorite quote in all of Winter. We are all sunshine and stardust, no matter how often we may feel like ice and glass and snow.

Shine on, friends.