ella davis

“But it also strikes me that the idea of 'conservatism' is in itself false, because nothing can be conserved, as such - time moves in one direction only, I mean. This idea is so basic thaat when I first thought of it, I felt very brilliant, and then I wondered if I was an idiot. But does it make some sense to you? We can't conserve anything, and especially not social relations, without altering their nature, arresting some part of their interaction with time in an unnatural way. Just look at what conservatives make of the enviornment: their idea of conservation is to extract, pillage and destroy, 'because that's what we've always done' - but because of that very fact, it's no longer the same earth we do it to. I suppose you think this is all extremely rudimentary and maybe even that I'm un-dialectical. But these are just the abstract thoughts I had, which I needed to write down, and of which you find yourself the (willing or unwilling) recipient.”
― Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You

“You can drive yourself crazy thinking about different things you could have done in the past.”
― Sally Rooney, Intermezzo

“At times I think of human relationships as something soft like sand or water, and by pouring them into particular vessels we give them shape.”
― Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You

“You are a deeply religious man who doesn't believe in God.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge