Emily B.

“If I take a chamois and rub real hard on the bone, right on the ledge of your cheek bone, some of the black will disappear. It will flake away into the chamois and underneath there will be gold leaf. I can see it shining through the black. I know it is there…
[...] And if I take a nailfile or even Eva’s old paring knife - that will do - and scrape away at the gold, it will fall away, it will fall away and there will be alabaster. The alabaster is what gives your face its planes, its curves. That is why your mouth smiling does not reach your eyes. Alabaster is giving it a gravity that resists a total smile.


[...] Then I can take a chisel and small tap hammer and tap away at the alabaster. It will crack then like ice under the pick, and through the breaks I will see the loam, fertile, free of pebbles and twigs. For it is the loam that is giving you that smell.
”
― Toni Morrison, Sula

“I still don't know much about art, but I do know that there are places inside of us―palaces of glorious light and caverns of unknowable darkness. Magical places filled with brilliant, unimaginable colors that we suffer to bring forth.”
― Neal Shusterman, Mindquakes: Stories To Shatter Your Brain

“Always assume the best of people. But if a guy proves he's no good, then don't hesitate to give him what he deserves.”
― Adam Makos, Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice

“A dog is a great thing for a kid to have. It's like a bicycle but with emotions.”
― Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood