angeleen

“I had now been a servant for three years, and could act the part well enough by that time. But Nancy was very changeable, two-faced you might call her, and it wasn't easy to tell what she wanted from one hour to the next. One minute she would be up on her high horse and ordering me about and finding fault, and the next minute she would be my best friend, or pretend to be, and would put her arm through mine, and say I looked tired, and should sit down with her, and have a cup of tea. It is much harder to work for such a person, as just when you are curtsying and Ma'am-ing them, they turn around and upbraid you for being so stiff and formal, and want to confide in you, and expect the same in return. You cannot ever do the correct thing with them.”
― Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace

“It has been my experience throughout life that the people who have been given the most by our government—education, food, rent subsidies—are the ones who are most apt to find fault with the whole idea of government.”
― Elizabeth Strout, My Name Is Lucy Barton

“We refuse to despair of mankind. Without having the unreasonable ambition to save men, we still want to serve them.”
― Albert Camus, The Plague

“How convenient for those in power to have a labour force accustomed to disempowerment and willing to settle for less.”
― Sabba Khan, The Roles We Play