Cris

“They put me and more 300 companions of misfortune and captivity in the strait and infected basement of a ship. Thirty days of cruel torments and utter lack of what is needed most to life we spent in this grave until we address the Brazilian beaches. To fit the human merchandise in the basement, were tied up and, for there was no fear of revolt, chained like beasts of our forests, which lead to potentates of Europe playground.”
― Maria Firmina dos Reis, Úrsula

“Book burnings. Always the forerunners. Heralds of the stake, the ovens, the mass graves.”
― Geraldine Brooks, People of the Book

“The lawyer is not worth in the calm times; his great role is when he must take the power of the despots, presenting before the courts the supreme character of free peoples.”
― Rui Barbosa

“...the book has survived the same human disaster over and over again. Think about it. You've got a society where people tolerate difference, like Spain in the Convivencia, and everything's humming along: creative, prosperous. Then somehow this fear, this hate, this need to demonize 'the other'--it just sort of rears up and smashes the whole society. Inquisition, Nazis, extremist Serb nationalists...same old, same old.”
― Geraldine Brooks, People of the Book