gialeanne

“You have asked me, too, what is history. I echo now my father: Our lives, no less. But more than that, it is our capacity to remember, to make the past useful and more so for Filipinos who have permitted themselves to be lobotomized by their own willfulness. They have done this to themselves because they are weak, because they did not know any better. I hope I can give them memory which will exalt them and give them hope.”
― F. Sionil José, Viajero

“The freedom of my eyes to scan the face of the earth, the mountains, trees, fields, and the sea, without barbed wire across my vision. The freedom of my body to walk with the wind, and no sentry to stop me. Opportunity to earn the food to keep me strong. The ability to look each month at a new moon without asking, How many more times must this beauty shine on my captivity? I will never give up these rights again. There may be more to life than these things. But there is no life without them.”
― Agnes Newton Keith, Three Came Home

“give like earth
be flexible like water
protect yourself like fire
be boundless like air”
― Yung Pueblo, The Way Forward

“Memories of beginnings, when things neared the end, were always kinder in hindsight, and the idea of a second chance seemed, at worst, harmless.”
― Glenn Diaz, The Quiet Ones