Ali

“Did you know people get rich off of sadness? I want to meet the millionaire of American sadness. I want to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and say, 'it's been an honor to serve my country.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“This must be the hardest bit about being a spy, she thought. The emotion people store in you, like a bad investment. You feel like you are robbing people of something.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“For many years, we didn't realize our parents had accents, that their voices sounded different to unkind American ears. All we heard was home.”
― Roxane Gay

“Their presumed, reliable fraudulence is what makes their presence, to the mourners, necessary. Because grief, at its worst, is unreal. And it calls for a surreal response.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous