“Everything is useless, intrinsically. Nothing has value unless we grant it that value.”
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
“It’s said that everything you eat, even the air you breathe, becomes part of you. The axi that make up the matter you take in come to make up you instead. I, however, find that the moments we take into our souls as memories are far more important than what we eat. We need those moments as surely as the air, and they linger. Potent. Yes, a person is more than their experiences, stacked up like stones. But our best moments are the foundations we use to reach for the sky.”
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
“They did nothing—other than subjecting us to complete nothingness. For, as is well known, nothing on earth puts more pressure on the human mind than nothing.”
― Chess Story
― Chess Story
“It’s a common mistake to assume that someone is weak because they are accommodating. If you think this, you might be the type who has no idea how much effort—how much strength—it takes to put up with your nonsense.”
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
“Why do we tell stories? They are a universal human experience. Every culture I’ve ever visited, every people I’ve met, every human on every planet in every situation I’ve seen…they all tell stories. Men trapped alone for years tell them to themselves. Ancients leave them painted on the walls. Women whisper them to their babies. Stories explain us. You want to define what makes a human different from an animal? I can do it in one word or a hundred thousand. Sad stories. Exultant stories. Didactic morality tales. Frivolous yarns that, paradoxically, carry too much meaning. We need stories.”
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
― Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
Riya’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Riya’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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