Ayla

“Granny then said the real trick of life was that almost no one is entirely a shit and almost no one is entirely not a shit. The hard part of life is keeping as much on the not-a-shit side as one can.”
― Fredrik Backman, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

“Not hungry, thanks, Mum.” “Have just a sandwich.” “No, thanks.” “I can make you a nice ham sandwich. Ham and mustard.” “No, really.” “Cheese? There’s some nice cheddar.” “Honestly, no.” “It’s no trouble.” “Oh, for goodness’ sake! Okay! I give in! I’ll have a bloody sandwich!” “You don’t have to have one,” Mary said, “if you don’t want one.”
― Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale

“Good, because if you have got a problem with it I can’t see you. Can’t smoke, can’t see. You can’t smoke anywhere these days. That’s why I gave up and organized my practice from home. You can drive a bloody car pell-mell with a high risk of slaughtering a thousand little children a year but you can’t smoke in case they get a whiff of your tobacco. What sort of a country is that?” He”
― Graham Joyce, Some Kind of Fairy Tale

“Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard, It makes demands. Hate is simple. So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time. The second thing that happens is that we seek out facts that confirm what we want to believe - comforting facts, ones that permit life to go on as normal. The third is that we dehumanize our enemy.”
― Fredrik Backman, Beartown