Ivan

“Our teacher made us write a story about what we want to be when we're big," Noah tells him.
"What did you write?"
"I wrote that I wanted to concentrate on being little first."
"That's a very good answer."
"Isn't it? I would rather be old than a grown-up. All grown-ups are angry, it's just children and old people who laugh."
"Did you write that?"
"Yes."
"What did your teacher say?"
"She said I hadn't understood the task."
"And what did you say?"
"I said she hadn't understood my answer.”
― Fredrik Backman, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

“Somewhere, sometime, I stopped really living. I stopped really trying. And I don't understand why.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“Someone once said give a dog food and shelter and treats and they think you are a god, but give a cat the same and they think they are the god.”
― Steven Rowley, Lily and the Octopus

“No. He was not here to wreak revenge.
For revenge was trifling and hollow.
No. He was not here to retrieve his wife.
For his wife was not a thing to be retrieved.
No. He was not here to negotiate a truce.
For a truce suggested he wished to compromise.

He was here to burn something to the ground.”
― Renee Ahdieh, The Rose & the Dagger