JR Carver

“Everything is useless, intrinsically. Nothing has value unless we grant it that value.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“It’s a common mistake to assume that someone is weak because they are accommodating. If you think this, you might be the type who has no idea how much effort—how much strength—it takes to put up with your nonsense.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“We walked back to the hotel under a deep navy sky bejeweled with stars.
In the center of the plaza a choir was singing. They held quivering candles, and their voices lilted icily into the sky.
I didn't see the moment. Not really.
I saw the story behind the moment - a tale passed down over two thousand years that told of a child of a superbeing sent to save the world.
Never before had I seen Homo Sapiens so clearly - a species, at its most fundamental level, of story tellers.
Creatures who overlay story on everything, but especially their own lives, and in so doing, can imbue a cold, random, sometimes brutal existence, with fabricated meaning.”
― Blake Crouch, Upgrade

“But then again, there’s nothing intrinsically valuable about any kind of art. That’s not me complaining or making light. It’s one of the most wonderful aspects to art—the fact that people decide what is beautiful. We don’t get to decide what is food and what is not. (Yes, exceptions exist. Don’t be pedantic. When you pass those marbles, we’re all going to laugh.) But we absolutely get to decide what counts as art. If Yumi’s people wanted to declare that rock arrangements surpassed painting or sculpture as an artistic creation…well, I personally found it fascinating. The spirits agreed.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter