Patty

“Reader, let’s talk about ambition. First of all, the word is almost always used against young people—especially women. No one calls Bernie Sanders ambitious, but the man ran for president twice. When he ran in the eighties, Joe Biden was condemned for his ambition; no one said that in 2020. All her life, people have flung this accusation at Hillary Clinton.”
― Jason Kander, Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD

“The thing that you don't understand about yourself, Vivian, is that you're not an interesting person. You are pretty, yes- but that's only because you are young. The prettiness will soon fade. But you will never be an interesting person. I'm telling you this, Vivian, because I beleive you've been laboring under the misconception that you are interesting, or that your life has significance. But you are not, and it doesn't. I once that you had the potential to become an interesting person, but I was incorrect. Your Aunt Peg is an interesting person. Olive Thompson is an interesting person. I am an interesting person. But you are not an interesting person. Do you understand me?”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, City of Girls

“If you're fluent in a language there's a place you belong.”
― Quiara Alegría Hudes, My Broken Language

“Perhaps one of the most brutal of white male privileges is the opportunity to live long enough to regret the carnage you have brought upon others.”
― Ijeoma Oluo, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America