Margaret

“Reading 1: What is the narrative, the story? Reading 2: What is the play about? Reading 3: What does my character say about himself? Reading 4: What do other characters say about my character when he is present? Reading 5: What do other characters say about my character when he is absent? Reading 6: What is true in the play? Reading 7: What is false in the play? Reading 8: What does the character actually do?”
― Patrick Stewart, Making It So: A Memoir

“In my past, I had never aspired to be elected. I didn’t major in political science, serve in the military, lead in student government, or work my way up from local office. But I wanted to do the right things when I got to Washington, and it was this determination that launched my campaign. I was tired of people getting ripped off by corporations that cheated them, and a government that ignored them. And I was tired of not having any power to fix those things. I decided to run for Congress to get power. That is the naked truth about why everyone decides to run for Congress: They want power. The question we should be asking every candidate, every day, is what they will do with the power.”
― Katie Porter, I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan

“Where do you light the fire?” Tarana Burke asks. “Your sphere of influence is a perfect place to start and end. . . . And if that is where you are a revolution for the rest of your life, that’s okay. What this moment in time tries to tell us is that your work is not real, your efforts aren’t big enough—if it’s not the Me Too movement, if it’s not Black Lives Matter, if it’s not that, then you haven’t done your job, you haven’t done enough. But I think that people need to understand just how important it is for people to see you want to be a revolution, for you to understand the people who you are influencing right around you. And that’s enough.”
― Ijeoma Oluo, Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too

“My mother, sometimes she says that everybody in the world is a donkey with the heart of a lion. Everybody. Only most people don’t ever discover it—they don’t have to, they get along all right just being donkeys. But it’s there, always, if you really need it. If you really want to find it. If you look for it.”
― Peter S. Beagle, I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons