Marta

“The Tikong... tends to walk short even though he may be tall. ... He normally lives too long on account of his love for energy conservation, which he achieves with enviable success simply by doing as little as possible or by doing nothing at all if he can. He does not have to police human rights, even in his own village, since he’s never heard of such things. Moreover, he has no global responsibility, for he is a citizen of a tiny country, so small that mankind is advised not to look for it on a classroom globe for it will only search in vain.”
― Epeli Hauʻofa, Tales of the Tikongs

“They do it because they can.”
― Naomi Alderman, The Power

“We’re stretched thin, all of us; we vibrate; we quiver, we’re always on the alert. Reign of terror, they used to say, but terror does not exactly reign. Instead it paralyzes. Hence the unnatural quiet.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Testaments

“Iowa looks exactly like Illinois. I am not sure why they bothered to separate them. Just an endless stretch of motorway and pig farms. (There is a distinction: Iowa smells more like pig shit than Illinois.)”
― Rainbow Rowell, Wayward Son