Clare James

“Money has become the grand test of virtue. By this test beggars fail, and for this they are despised. If one could earn even ten pounds a week at begging, it would become a respectable profession immediately. A beggar, looked at realistically, is simply a businessman, getting his living, like other businessmen, in the way that comes to hand. He has not, more than most modem people, sold his honour; he has merely made the mistake of choosing a trade at which it is impossible to grow rich.”
― George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

“But if these years have taught me anything it is this: you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in.”
― Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

“The people are as bad, do you hear me? But the priests are still in control of ninety per cent of the schools. Do you think that if there was any other sector of society which has displayed such a predilection towards paedophilia we would let them within a mile of a school, let alone let them run the places? I mean what kind of country do we have here at all? We need to get rid of them, do you hear me? Put them out of every school. Keep them away from our children. Perversion is bred in their bones.”
― John Boyne, A History of Loneliness

“Childhood is a naturally unhappy period of our existence, Lillian. It was Walt Disney who invented the notion that it has to be happy, simply to make money.”
― Isabel Allende, The Japanese Lover