Akira

“I’m serious, Sasha: what is so important about being human? Is it because you simply haven’t experienced anything else?”
― Marina Dyachenko, Vita Nostra

“By verbally identifying an object, by giving it a name, we alter it. And at the same time we prevent it from changing. A name is like a forked stick that we use to hold a snake on the ground.”
― Marina Dyachenko, Vita Nostra

“Sometimes we do terrible things to survive, don't we?”
― Cassandra Khaw, The Library at Hellebore

“At what moment?" she asked him. "At what moment do we cease to be humans and become objects?"

Blaise continued to make his way in silence, carrying the lamp at arm's length to spread its light as far as possible. When he finally replied, it was in a different voice from usual, deeper, calmer, and without the slightest stutter: "Some humans are objects while they're alive, Mademoiselle Eulalia.”
― Christelle Dabos, La Mémoire de Babel