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“I remember these things clearly because that was how my mother loved you, not through white lies and constant verbal affirmation, but in subtle observations of what brought you joy, pocketed away to make you feel comforted and cared for without even realizing it.”
― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

“No object is in a constant relationship with pleasure, wrote Barthes. For the writer, however, it is the mother tongue. But what if the mother tongue is stunted? What if that tongue is not only the symbol of a void, but is itself a void, what if the tongue is cut out? Can one take pleasure in loss without losing oneself entirely? The Vietnamese I own is the one you gave me, the one whose diction and syntax reach only the second-grade level.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“It is always the gentle ones I fear for the most, those willing to bare their hearts, who grieve for others and feel happy for others' happiness.”
― Marie Lu, Skyhunter

“And that’s when I realize that, at the end, we’d all wish for the same thing. Just a little more time.”
― Marie Lu, Wildcard