Mariam

“Ideas are such perfect things.
But as soon as they're made real
they're cringing, clunky, turgid things,
so difficult to wield.”
― Kae Tempest, Hold Your Own

“Any event that surprises a man has already been experienced by other men before him. The effects of all human possibilities have already been felt. Nothing that might happen to us here, as terrible or as felicitous as it might seem, is new. But what we experience is always new because every man is unique, the way every leaf and every tree is unique. Men share with each other the same lifeblood, but each feeds himself from it differently. Even if the new isn’t really new, it’s always new for those who, ceaselessly, wash up on the world’s shores, generation after generation, wave after wave. So, in order to find yourself in life, to not lose yourself on the path, you must listen to the voice of duty. To think too much about yourself is to falter. Whoever understands this secret has the potential to live in peace. But it’s easier said than done.”
― David Diop, At Night All Blood is Black

“For example, Israeli state agencies cite their superior "gay-friendly" culture to justify their brutal subjugation of "backward homophobic" Palestinians. Similarly, some European liberals invoke their own "enlightened toleration" of LGBTQ+ individuals in order to legitimate hostility towards Muslims, whom they equate indiscriminately with reaction, while giving non-Muslim sex-authoritarians a free pass.”
― Cinzia Arruzza, Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto

“But here is the nature of life. That we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.”
― Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore