Ann > Ann's Quotes

“Hua Cheng said woefully, “Gege, although I’m happy you’re so happy, but, is it really that funny?”

Xie Lian hugged his belly. “Of course! Only after having met you did I rediscover that it’s such a simple thing to be happy, hahaha…”
― Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, 天官赐福 [Tiān Guān Cì Fú]

“It’s not about being perfect, Jean. It’s about being better overall, and you were. You are in every way,” he insisted when Jean tried to wave him off. “If I threw a rock into the chasm between your talents and his, I don’t think I’d ever hear it hit bottom.” ​It was so uncharacteristically rude Jean could only stare at him. He didn’t have to say anything; Jeremy grimaced and dropped his gaze. “Sorry, that was uncalled-for. I know better than to let them get to me, but they’ve always brought out the worst in me.” ​“It makes you more interesting,” Jean said, and watched the way Jeremy’s jaw worked on silent protests. That he wouldn’t even defend himself said worlds to how disappointed he was in his thoughtlessness; he didn’t want Jean to like this side of him. Jean finally took pity on him and explained, “Not your capacity for unkindness, but how fiercely you fight against it.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Golden Raven

“It doesn't matter which story. Let's say it was the one where the young actresses said yes to a pool party and didn't know or no, let's say it was the one where the rugby team covered up the girl's death and the school covered for the rugby team. Actually, it was the one where the therapist spent years grooming her.

It was the one where the senator, then a promising teenager, shoved his dick in the girl’s face. She was also a promising teenager. It was the one where the billionaire pushed the woman into the phone booth, but no one believed her. The one where the high school senior was acquitted of rape because the sophomore girl had shaved her pubic region, which somehow equaled consent...

The one where the judge said the swimmer was so promising. The one where the rapist reminded the judge of himself as a young rapist. It was the one where her body was never found. It was the one where her body was found in the snow. It was the one where he left her body for dead under the tarp. It was the one where she walked around in her skin and her bones for the rest of her life but her body was never recovered.

You know the one.”
― Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions for You

“He gazed at Xie Lian. "If your dream is to save the common people, then my dream is only you."

"..." Relying on his memory, Xie Lian asked with a trembling voice, "But... you won't... be able to rest in peace... like this...?"

Hua Cheng answered, "I pray to never rest in peace.”
― Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, Heaven Officials Blessing Collection Set Volumes 1-3 Includes exclusive Manga Sticker Pack

“Smartphones grab our attention so powerfully that if they merely vibrate in our pockets for a tenth of a second, many of us will interrupt a face-to-face conversation, just in case the phone is bringing us an important update. We usually don't tell the other person to stop talking, we usually just pull our phone and spend some time pecking at it, leaving the other person to conclude, reasonably, that she is less important. When a conversation partner pulls out a phone, or when a phone is merely visible (not even your own phone), the quality and intimacy of a social interaction is reduced.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

“There were two interesting twists in their findings. The first was that bad was stronger than good, as is almost always the case in psychology. Depression was significantly more contagious than happiness or good mental health. The second twist was that depression spread only from women. When a woman became depressed, it increased the odds of depression in her close friends (male and female) by 142%. When a man became depressed, it had no measurable effect on his friends. The authors surmise that the difference is due to the fact that women are more emotionally expressive and more effective at communicating mood states within friendship pairs. When men get together, in contrast, they are more likely to do things together rather than talk about what they are feeling.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

“Why did fall in love with someone who takes such pleasure in grinding my pride into the dust?"
"You... love me?"
"After all our time together, did I have a choice?”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Daughter of the Moon Goddess

“Every single one of those instances when I thought I was hypnotized by seeing joy on other people, I’d been searching, searching specifically for his joy. Because now that I’ve experienced it, it renders all past joy obsolete.”
― Sara Raasch, The Nightmare Before Kissmas

“He hasn’t played a clean game in years,” Kevin admitted, “but he knows how to follow orders. If you tell him to submit, he will.” “Literally the most awkward way you could’ve worded it,” Jeremy said”
― Nora Sakavic, The Sunshine Court

“What you hold onto is less important than the act of holding on itself. It’s so easy to get lost in ourselves and this world. Sometimes you need to find your way back one tiny miracle at a time.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Sunshine Court

“In my childhood, I had been terrified of the vicious monsters I read about in my books. Yet I was learning that as much to be feared was a scythe-like smile and words that cut deep.”
― Sue Lynn Tan, Daughter of the Moon Goddess

“When there is ambiguity, people look to each other to see what everyone else is doing. Those cues help define the situation. Is it an emergency? If everyone else is just sitting there, each individual comes to the conclusion that no, it is not an emergency. The diffusion of digital technology into children’s lives has been like smoke pouring into our homes. We all see that something strange is happening, but we don’t understand it. We fear that the smoke is having bad effects on our children, but when we look around, nobody is doing much about it.
The most important lesson here is to speak up. If you think the phone based childhood is bad for children and you want to see a return to play-based, say so. Most people share your suspicion but they're not sure what to do about it.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde

“It’s about second chances, Neil. Second, third, fourth, whatever, as long as you get at least one more than what anyone else wanted to give you.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Foxhole Court

“You're not toast." she said "You can be Nathaniel Cartwright. Then you can be someone else. And then if you don't like it, you can be Nathaniel Cartwright again. You're not toast. Bread doesn't have a choice. You do" ... "I'm sure your parents wouldn't mind if you became someone you liked instead of the person you are. It's better to be happy a little bit than to me not happy at all.”
― T.J. Klune, The Bones Beneath My Skin

“If we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.”
― Tim Kreider

“Love in your novels, I think, acts as a form of hope. Why hope?... I want to know about love"
"But isn't love a form of hope?"
"No, love is crushing. Love is something you let yourself feel at your own peril despite your better sense."
"True, it's all those things. But where would we be if we didn't feel it? I think it's the only form of hope we have, for our survival I mean. What good is any other virtue without love? In literature, love is a weakness.... Love is not the weakness, people get it its way people are weak and perilous, not love.”
― Lily King;, Heart the Lover