Elena

“Why do panda bears bore you?"
"Since they're born wearing such impressive makeup, they don't make any effort to be interesting. They neither master any stageworthy tricks nor write autobiographies.”
― Yōko Tawada, Memoirs of a Polar Bear

“Homo sapiens is sluggish in its movements, as if it had too much superfluous flesh, but at the same time it is pathetically thin. It blinks too often, particularly at decisive moments when it needs to see everything. When nothing’s happening, it finds some reason for frenetic movement, but when actual danger threatens, its responses are far too slow. Homo sapiens is not made for battle, so it ought to be like rabbits and deer and learn the wisdom and the art of flight. But it loves battle and war. Who made these foolish creatures? Some humans claim to be made in God’s image—what an insult to God. There are, however, in the northern reaches of our Earth, small tribes who can still remember that God looked like a bear.”
― Yōko Tawada, Memoirs of a Polar Bear

“The male members of the species Homo sapiens appealed to me a great deal. They were soft and small and had fragile but adorable teeth. Their fingers were delicately constructed, the fingernails all but nonexistent. Sometimes they reminded me of stuffed animals, lovely to hold in one's arms.”
― Yōko Tawada, Memoirs of a Polar Bear

“But this way I can learn German. I’ll write in German, and you can save
time. No more translations.”
“No, that’s out of the question! You have to write in your own mother
tongue. You’re supposed to be pouring out your heart, and that needs to happen in a natural way.”
“What’s my mother tongue?”
“The language your mother speaks.”
“I’ve never spoken with my mother.”
"A mother is a mother, even if you never speak with her.”
― Yōko Tawada, Memoirs of a Polar Bear