John

“The same boys who got detention in elementary school for beating the crap out of people are now rewarded for it. They call it football.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak

“If you want to help her, you need to help yourself first. No one serves their friends by grinding themselves into dust on the altar of compassion.”
― Seanan McGuire, In an Absent Dream

“As I've reflected back on both, I realize that my neighborhood was just like The Wire. We had the drug dealing, the police brutality, the murders. Well, it was /almost/ a perfect match. We had everything The Wire had except for universal critical acclaim and the undying love of white people who saw it.”
― Baratunde R. Thurston, How to Be Black

“Escapism isn't good or bad of itself. What is important is what you are escaping from and where you are escaping to. I write from experience, since in my case I escaped to the idea that books could be really enjoyable, an aspect of reading that teachers had not hitherto suggested.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-Fiction