Danna Peña

“God sees all our directing minds stripped of their material vessels, their husks and their dross. His contact is only between his own intelligence and what has flowed from him into these channels of ours. If you train yourself to do the same, you will be rid of what so much distracts you. Hardly likely, is it, that one blind to the enveloping flesh will spend his time eyeing clothes, houses, reputation, or any other such trappings and stage scenery?”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“They say addiction might be linked to bipolar disorder. It’s the chemicals in our brains, they say. I got the wrong chemicals, Ma. Or rather, I don’t get enough of one or the other. They have a pill for it. They have an industry. They make millions. Did you know people get rich off of sadness? I want to meet the millionaire of American sadness. I want to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and say, “It’s been an honor to serve my country.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“Foreign monopoly capitalism and the comprador bourgeoisie hinder the growth of industry: they must be opposed by the people's democratic revolution.”
― Gina Apostol, Gun Dealers' Daughter

“For indeed, a man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if in the end he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World