Maureen

“Okay.” Hai nodded, but his mind was somewhere else. “Hey. Do you think a life you can’t remember is still a good life?” The question sounded almost silly aloud. “I mean, like—” “Yes,” said Sony. “Why’s that?” “Because someone else will remember it.”
― Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness

“There is a common superstition that “self-respect” is a kind of charm against snakes, something that keeps those who have it locked in some unblighted Eden, out of strange beds, ambivalent conversations, and trouble in general. It does not at all. It has nothing to do with the face of things, but concerns instead a separate peace, a private reconciliation.”
― Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

“Misogyny, when expressed or explored by men, remains a timeless classic.”
― Maggie Nelson, The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning

“Of all your work, you are still your most beautiful. The most beautiful work of all.”
― Patti Smith, Just Kids