Haley

“Human life is quick. I do not mean: Life is short. I mean: The reason we feel like certain significant days happened only yesterday is because they did. Many of us have bodies that age preposterously out of proportion with how young we are. It’s like aging in theater time. We’re all seven-year-olds hired to play the parts of adults. A decade is not long. Two decades is not long. We say it is because we weigh it against the end of our life span. Our life spans are short and do not give us time to feel temporally in proportion.”
― Marie-Helene Bertino, Beautyland

“What a human in a dark room who has lost the ability to see themselves or others does not need is a metaphor. More effective would be to say, If you feel alone, you are. I’m sorry I cannot join you in that dark space but I won’t offend you with a metaphor. Yet. Grief is a bad mirror. It shows you manipulated images of yourself, your will, and the future. It cannot show you how the small work you do will add up to yourself. Inch by inch.”
― Marie-Helene Bertino, Beautyland

“Normal is often treated as a moral judgment, when it is often simply a statistical matter. The question of what everyone else is doing is less important than the question of what works for the two people in the actual relationship. It matters that everyone’s needs are carefully considered and respected, not that everyone is doing the same thing.”
― Angela Chen, Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

“No, because the government says there’s no risk with mosquitoes.” “The government wants to manipulate you, that’s the only reason it exists.” “Here everyone uses an umbrella when they go out. It’s only logical.” “Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the umbrella industry saw an opportunity and the government got in on it?”
― Agustina Bazterrica, Tender Is the Flesh