Simone

“Der Himmel über Charkiw war heute hoch und klar, und die Wolken irgendwie leichtsinnig sommerlich. Die schweren Schneekappen fallen von den Dächern. In der Stadt selbst ist es still, daher sehen sich die Menschen um, wenn Schnee herabrutscht. In der Stadt ist Frühling. Und in der Stadt ist Krieg.”
― Serhiy Zhadan, Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front

“To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”
― Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: The Book to Help You Understand Why Democracy Is Failing In 2025

“The small runes on the paper came alive and gleamed as soon as you laid eyes on them; they metamorphosed from one shape to another, transforming themselves into unknown cities, narrow streets, steep rocks, deserts and palaces. They sprinkled you with drops of magic water and you too were transformed. You became Peter Pan, you became Le Chevalier de Pardaillan, you became Arsène Lupin, you became Sherlock Holmes, you became Ivanhoe, you became Lancelot.
I spent the years of my childhood playing with the wood spirits. I got used to having them always around me as they slept in between pages, ready to wake and start dancing as soon as I opened a book. I loved watching them even in their sleep.
One thing I found most difficult in prison was to live in a place where there were no books.”
― Ahmet Altan, I Will Never See the World Again