Nessa McCasey

“But whose problem is it when you make people talk about you?"

"Theirs.”
― Yiyun Li

“Patient stated that she felt like a burden to loved ones" - much later, when I read the notes from the emergency room, I did not have any recollection of the conversation. 'A burden to loved ones': this language must have been provided to me. I would never use the phrase in my thinking or writing. But my resistance has little to do with avoiding a platitude. To say a burden is to grant oneself weight in other people's lives: to call them loved ones is to fake one's ability to love. One does not always want to subject oneself to self-interrogation imposed by a cliché.”
― Yiyun Li, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life

“One man's mistake can capsize a whole ship of people."

"True.”
― Yiyun Li

“The weak-minded choose to hate," she said. "It's the least painful thing to do, isn't it?”
― Yiyun Li, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl