Melissa

“That's just what translation is, I think. That's all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they're trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis.”
― Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon

“Empire needed extraction. Violence shocked the system, because the system could not cannibalize itself and survive.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“But that's the great contradiction of colonialism.' Cathy uttered this like a simple matter of fact. 'It's built to destroy that which it prizes most.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel