Nikki Welch

“He finished his food quickly and then nervously looked from person to person. I could tell that he wanted to ask a question, so I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and asked if he needed anything. 'Yeah,' he started, refusing to make eye contact. And then, almost in a whisper: 'I wonder if I could get a few more french fries.' He was hungry – in 2014, in the richest country on Earth. He wanted a little extra to eat, but felt uncomfortable asking.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“There is nothing lower than the poor stealing from the poor. It's hard enough as it is. We sure as hell don't need to make it even harder on each other.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“Not all of the white working class struggles. I knew even as a child that there were two separate sets of mores and social pressures. My grandparents embodied one type: old-fashioned, quietly faithful, self-reliant, hardworking. My mother and, increasingly, the entire neighborhood embodied another: consumerist, isolated, angry, distrustful.”
― J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

“It hardly seems fair we'd get the universe all to ourselves...”
― David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim