MAYA QUARTZ

“There can be no easy reconciliations, only complicated truths, told without shame. The murderers among us would have us believe that history is slippery and unknowable. Insisting otherwise is an act of defense... But the past never goes away. The fear and pain are still there, buried in our brains like mines. It is better to defuse them than to leave them entombed, quietly, waiting for a single misstep. That is why I am telling my story.”
― Chantha Nguon, Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes

“To be conscious in eternal night, you would pray for oblivion... But there would be no one around to hear you.”
― Michelle Paver, Dark Matter

“When they heard that someone was full figured and liked cooking & eating, most men imagined someone who was quiet and domestic; someone whose interior life would not surpass their own. But did that reasoning really hold up? Eating was fundamentally an individual and egoistic compulsion... a gourmand was ultimately a seeker of the truth. You could wrap up their mission in all kinds of fancy language, but it was simply confronting their desires day in and day out. As you learn to cook, you become increasingly able to shut out the outside world and create a fortress within your own spirit. You hunted down your prey using fire and blade to fashion them down into the form you desired... it takes a deathly earnestness to remain faithful to your desires at all times.”
― Asako Yuzuki

“I was beginning to learn the gendered rules for behavior. My parents did not want a steely-eyed warrior for a daughter- they wanted someone obedient and kind. She didn't have to be a quivering sack of hysteria, but she should at least crack at FBI-interrogator levels. I would have to do better. I would try to be softer.”
― Heather Gay, Bad Mormon: A Memoir