When the Pawn…
by Fiona Apple
Quotes
People who claim that they’re evil are usually no worse than the rest of us. It’s people who claim that they’re good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.
—Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Dinner Guest: Me
I know I am
The Negro Problem
Being wined and dined,
Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To probe in polite way
The why and wherewithal
Of darkness U.S.A.—
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Murmuring gently
Over fraises du bois,
“I’m so ashamed of being white.”
The lobster is delicious,
The wine divine,
And center of attention
At the damask table, mine.
To be a Problem on
Park Avenue at eight
Is not so bad.
Solutions to the Problem,
Of course, wait.
As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.
—Margaret Atwood, The Testaments
I simply didn’t know how to make things better. I could not solve the puzzle of me.
—Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove.
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love;
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
—Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
There is a spectacle greater than the sea, and that is the sky; there is a spectacle greater than the sky, and that is the human soul.
—Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. But then perhaps this is what lovers are.
—André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name
Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.
—Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
That Book Broad 