Mercy

“My phone is vibrating, telling me: You have a new memory. Here is a stream of pictures collected into an album, all taken somewhere far away. Home is not a place but a string of colours threaded together and knotted at one end.”
― Nina Mingya Powles, Magnolia, 木蘭

“Le bruit est partout, à toutes les heures du jour et de la nuit, presque autonome par rapport aux personnes qui sont censées le produire, le bruit pénètre les corps par le conduit auditif et se répercute dans chaque parcelle de l'organisme, le bruit harcèle le silence des organes.”
― Édouard Louis, Histoire de la violence

“I want to know the names of the trees in all other languages too so that I find out what they taste like to other people. But my mouth can only hold so much.”
― Nina Mingya Powles, Magnolia, 木蘭

“Sometimes I think the War is harder on parents than on soldiers," said Pritchard.
Gaunt could tell he was lying, but Gaunt would have lied too, if he had thought of it. Instead, all he could think of was No Man's Land at night, when the star shells lit it up, and it seemed to contain the world. The steak and champagne disgusted him. The fine china and silverware were sticky with something intangible, something fouler than the mud of the trenches. Next to him, Pritchard dropped his fork with a clatter. Gaunt still knew the names of all the men in his company. Where would they see tonight? How many were left alive ?”
― Alice Winn, In Memoriam