A Place for Us Quotes

“It didn’t take long for me to see how intertwined all of our struggles are. Justice is justice. And the denial of justice for any one group of people erodes justice for all people. Attacks on the rights of transgender people to access health care are tied to assaults on abortion rights, as both are grounded in a fight for sexual autonomy, a tug-of-war with the government over control of our own bodies. The fight for immigrant rights is an LGBTQ+ fight, too, because it is a collective demand for human-centered politics that treat people with a basic level of decency. And the work of dismantling systemic racism is ours as well.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“How do we stitch together a society severed by incendiary rhetoric and callous political opportunism? At a time when it’s tempting to see our neighbors as others rather than as people like us, how do we even begin to care for ourselves and our communities?”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“Our world is designed for extroverts. We place a high value on those with a seemingly effortless knack for socializing. Magnetic personalities are deified, while the more muted among us are bulldozed in conversation. We turn every email into a video call and race to fill silence with sound, indicting quiet as “awkward” without considering its necessity.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“our stories matter because when we share them, the collective pieces of our individual lived experiences teach us all how to go on.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“forgiveness is not just an offer of grace—it is a powerful act of unconditional love.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“How do you grow up in a community and want nothing to do with the people who give its rich tapestry such vibrant color? How miserable is your existence when you see other before you see humanity?”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“Empathy is a heavy weight to carry when it feels like the whole world is teetering on the edge of apocalypse.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“There’s something special about the people with whom you can enjoy silence. Something necessary. So much of our time is spent filling the silence with noise. We play background music and incessantly murmur among ourselves. Some of it has value. But much of it is to ward off our dread of silence. Our darkest thoughts live there. Our fears of inadequacy lurk in the shadows of quiet reflection, a truth we avoid by filling the world with sound and distraction. We live petrified that if our thoughts are allowed to come into clear focus, we won’t be able to stomach how they appear. But occasionally you meet someone with whom you can traverse the treacherous waters of silence. Someone with whom you can sit, content in stillness, and simply be. Someone with whom the world needs no distraction or white noise. This is a relationship to cherish.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“Justice is justice. And the denial of justice for any one group of people erodes justice for all people. Attacks on the rights of transgender people to access health care are tied to assaults on abortion rights, as both are grounded in a fight for sexual autonomy, a tug-of-war with the government over control of our own bodies. The fight for immigrant rights is an LGBTQ+ fight, too, because it is a collective demand for human-centered politics that treat people with a basic level of decency. And the work of dismantling systemic racism is ours as well. The queer community includes people of color. And when the state is empowered to defend white supremacy, violently and brutally, all of our lives are on the line. To paraphrase Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Maya Angelou: so long as a single person has not been liberated, none of us has truly been liberated.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“He was everything I’d been afraid to be. Brazen. Unapologetic. Queer.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“Despite the calming tranquility of the church garden, I still couldn’t shake a deep feeling of numbness. Emptiness. I knew the flowers speckling the grass below were beautiful, but to me they appeared muted. Graying stems with faded petals. The sky was dull and flat, its brilliant blue lost on me. Chirping birds sounded miles away, their trills drowned out and inaudible. I didn’t feel resentment. Or sadness. I couldn’t feel joy or summon laughter. A hollow void loomed where a thunderous roar of emotions had stirred before. I wished we didn’t have to be there at all.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“Purpose is a fickle friend. Just as soon as it lifts you up or lights a fire in your belly, it can drag you into burnout, torturing you with a perpetual sense of inadequacy and pushing you past your limits.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“Our world is designed for extroverts. We place a high value on those with a seemingly effortless knack for socializing. Magnetic personalities are deified, while the more muted among us are bulldozed in conversation. We turn every email into a video call and race to fill silence with sound, indicting quiet as “awkward” without considering its necessity. Anyone who prefers solitude and a good book over the relentless calendar of a socialite is looked upon with pity, as if we don’t crave nonstop interaction because we’re just weird.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“That’s the true pitfall of our desperate fight for belonging in the world. The system of delineating who’s who is hardwired to devalue our unique identities, force us into boxes, inundate us with unrealistic images of what it takes to be worthy, and tempt us to shirk our very humanity by pushing others into the mud to avoid getting dirty ourselves, to keep us from realizing the collective strength of our communities.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir

“My Blackness was made to feel like an obstacle—a disability—to be overcome. If I wanted a place in the world, those around me would say, I would have to prove that I deserved it. If the world doesn’t value you, it’s because you’re not working hard enough, the most privileged among us would crow, their white, cisgender, heterosexual blinders shielding them from the ignorance in their own unsolicited advice.”
― Brandon J. Wolf, A Place for Us: A Memoir