Alena

“If to exploit is human nature, than this, to resist exploitation, is also human nature. No exploiter has ever lived in peace without their weapons, their soldiers, and their propaganda and lies. And I have enough faith in human self-interest to believe that those who do the true labor of society will rise for their own sake until there are no more exploiters to combat, however many eons it will take. Every oppresser, through their denial of humanity, sows the seeds of their own destruction.”
― Xiran Jay Zhao, Heavenly Tyrant

“I am trying to place myself in history. I have been looking all my life for history and have yet to find it.”
― Joan Didion, South and West: From a Notebook

“I only have this one mouth.
I cannot make it into a graveyard for you anymore.
I just learned how to make room under my tongue for the name of someone who loves me.”
― Hanif Abdurraqib, The Crown Ain't Worth Much

“And it may seem now like it’s someone else’s children, but there’s no such thing as someone else’s children.”
― Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This