Jo

“<..> Reading makes you see with clearer eyes and understand the world better. When you do that , you become stronger - the feeling you associate with success. But at the same time with pain. Within the pages, there's much suffering, beyond that we've gone through in our finite experience of life. You'll read about suffering you didn't know existed. Having experienced their pain through words, it becomes a lot harder to focus on pursuing individual happiness and success. Reading makes you deviate further from the textbook definition of success because books don't make us go ahead of or above anyone else; they guide us to stand alongside others. <...>
<..> We become more compassionate. To read is to see things from someone else's perspective, and that naturally leads you to stop and look out for other people, rather than chase after success in the rat race. If more people read, I think the world would become a better place.”
― Hwang Bo-reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

“A life surrounded by good people is a successful life. It might not be success as defined by society, but thanks to the people around you, each day is a successful day'.”
― Hwang Bo-reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

“Violence isn’t the only means of Transformation, Aerius. There are other Ways Back. A book is an Ax too. ‘For the frozen Sea within us.’ ‘The Pen is mightier than the Sword,’ and so on.”
And in my Mindscape, I saw my Book. Now in Mother’s Hands. How she’d hugged it so close to her Body even after she’d called it Nothing, a Fiction. “My Book a Way Back,” I whispered. “All by itself?” My Voice echoed in the Forest, small and alone.
Allan looked down at me, suddenly quite enchanted. “All by itself," he repeated softly. “They are one of the oldest forms of Transformative Magic. They have the Power to change Everything. Hearts. Bodies. Minds. Souls. Whole fucking Worlds. People burn them for a Reason, you know.”
― Mona Awad, We Love You, Bunny

“We need not worry, our leaders tell us. We are a resilient people. We need only summon that strength now. Will someone please tell them that resilience is not a thing to be trotted out in trying times like a kind of prized pony? As the gifted Haitian American writer Edwidge Danticat puts it, just because people are resilient doesn't mean they can suffer more than others.”
― Julian Aguon, No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies: A Lyric Essay