Lucy

“Typical white man behavior, Ms. Mori said. Have you ever noticed how a white man can learn a few words of some Asian language and we just eat it up? He could ask for a glass of water and we’d treat him like Einstein. Sonny smiled and wrote that down, too. You’ve been here longer than we have, Ms. Mori, he said with some admiration. Have you noticed that when we Asians speak English, it better be nearly perfect or someone’s going to make fun of our accent? It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been here, Ms. Mori said. White people will always think we’re foreigners. But isn’t there another side to that? I said, my words a little slurred from the cognac in my bloodstream. If we speak perfect English, then Americans trust us. It makes it easier for them to think we’re one of them.”
― Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer

“One day, I will look up and all the people I know will be dead or abroad.” She had spoken wearily.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

“But I know that it has happened to you already, that you have deduced that you are privileged and yet still different from other privileged children, because you are a bearer of a body more fragile than any other in this country. What I want you to know is that this is not your fault, even if it is ultimately your responsibility.”
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

“Where did the genius come from? Where did it go? Like allowing another lover into the house to live with you, someone you'd never met but whom you knew he loved more than you.”
― Andrew Greer