Maryanne

“Every team needs one person who is willing to speak uncomfortable truths, no matter what,” Aceveda replied. “Most people are, by nature, diplomatic to a fault. What Gerhold and Nisha and perhaps Yuan provide is an unvarnished alternative view, which is very often the correct view, even though it isn’t how the rest of the group sees things. It can come off as cynicism. Without their perspective, groupthink becomes a problem, and things get out of balance. The other, more diplomatic members rely on the spoilsport to voice the things they’re secretly thinking but can’t – or don’t want – to say. As long as they don’t become a morale sink and remain loyal, they’re valuable.”
― Michael Richan, Mausoleum: Anomaly

“What could she have been thinking about? Not much, I guess; not back then, not at the time. She was thinking about how not to think. The times were abnormal. She took pride in her appearance. She did not believe he was a monster. He was not a monster, to her. Probably he had some endearing trait: he whistled, offkey, in the shower, he had a yen for truffles, he called his dog Liebchen and made it sit up for little pieces of raw steak. How easy it is to invent a humanity, for anyone at all.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale