Ria

“At a small dinner with other business executives, the guest of honor spoke the entire time without taking a breath. This meant that the only way to ask a question or make an observation was to interrupt. Three or four men jumped in, and the guest politely answered their questions before resuming his lecture. At one point, I tried to add something to the conversation and he barked, "Let me finish! You people are not good at listening!" Eventually, a few more men interjected and he allowed it. Then the only other female executive at the dinner decided to speak up--and he did it again! He chastised her for interrupting. After the meal, one of the male CEOs pulled me aside to say that he had noticed that only the women had been silenced. He told me he empathized, because as a Hispanic, he has been treated like this many times.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

“Fate, show thy force; ourselves we do not owe;
what is decreed must be, and be this so.”
― William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

“What relish is in this? How runs the stream?
Or I am mad, or else this is a dream.
Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!”
― William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

“The king was pregnant.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness