Selena

“Daily the Negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. The laws are made by men who have little interest in him; they are executed by men who have absolutely no motive for treating the black people with courtesy or consideration; and, finally, the accused law-breaker is tried, not by his peers, but too often by men who would rather punish ten innocent Negroes than let one guilty one escape.”
― W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

“It would be useless to tell him that I'm done sacrificing other people for my own gain. I won't whip innocent kitchen workers, I won't burn down buildings, I won't ask anyone to give up their inheritance for me, and I certainly won't leave a friend at the mercy of a mysterious magical force-- merely for the sake of my own power. I press my fingers to the stone at my navel, taking comfort in its familiar pulsing. What I tell him is, 'And I have me. I will be enough.”
― Rae Carson, The Crown of Embers

“Friendships take minutes to make, moments to break, years to repair.”
― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

“I will not pretend weakness. Not ever, not for anyone.”
― Rae Carson, The Crown of Embers