Zoe

“Sometimes as I am falling asleep in a dark, quiet room I have for a moment a great and treasurable illusion of the past. The wall of a tent leans up over my face, not visible but audible, a slanting plane of faint sound: the susurrus of blown snow. Nothing can be seen. The light-emission of the Chabe stove is cut off, and it exists only as a sphere of heat, a heart of warmth. The faint dampness and confining cling of my sleeping-bag; the sound of the snow; barely audible, Estraven’s breathing as he sleeps; darkness. Nothing else. We are inside, the two of us, in shelter, at rest, at the center of all things. Outside, as always, lies the great darkness, the cold, death’s solitude.

In such fortunate moments as I fall asleep I know beyond doubt what the real center of my own life is, that time which is past and lost and yet is permanent, the enduring moment, the heart of warmth.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

“Enkidu, my brother, whom I loved so dearly, who accompanied me through every danger-- the fate of mankind has overwhelmed him. For six days I would not let him be buried, thinking, 'If my grief is violent enough, perhaps he will come back to life again.”
― Stephen Mitchell, The Epic of Gilgamesh

“Le corps nu d'une femme trans, c'est pour vous *sexuel*, impossible à ne pas objectifier ni à damner par la gêne ou la moquerie – mais la perversité est dans vos yeux.

Ce corps nu n'est qu'un corps.”
― Joanna Foliveli, Humaine

“He loved his country very dearly, sir, but he did not serve it, or you. He served the master I serve.'

'The Ekumen?' said Argaven, startled.

'No. Mankind.'

As I spoke I did not know if what I said was true. True in part; an aspect of the truth. It would be no less true to say that Estraven’s acts had risen out of pure personal loyalty, a sense of responsibility and friendship towards one single human being, myself. Nor would that be the whole truth.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness