Caroline

“It was not, Zelda wrote, prosperity or the softness of life, or any instability that marred the war generation; it was a great emotional disappointment resulting from the fact that life moved in poetic gestures when they were younger and had since settled back into buffoonery.”
― Nancy Milford, Zelda

“Seeing people insult, scream, and sometimes physically fight was just a part of our life. After a while, you didn’t even notice it. I always thought it was how adults spoke to one another. When Lori married Dan, I learned of at least one exception. Mamaw told me that they never screamed at each other because Dan was different. As we got to know Dan’s entire family, I realized that they were just nicer to each other. They didn’t yell at each other in public. I got the distinct impression that they didn’t yell at each other much in private, either. I thought they were frauds. My aunt saw it differently. “I just assumed they were really weird. I knew they were genuine. I just figured they were genuinely odd.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“The white man brought racism into the world. He used it as a basis of conquest. It is always easier to conquer a more humane people.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun

“I hope I'll never get ambitious enough to try anything. It's so much nicer to be damned sure I could do it better than other people - and I might not could if I tried...”
― Nancy Milford, Zelda