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Quote by Brit Bennett

“Some hoped, watching Desiree hold the hand of the little dark girl, that the two wouldn't even stay that long. They weren't used to having a dark child amongst them and were surprised by how much it upset them. Each time that girl passed by, no hat or nothing, they were as galled as when Thomas Richard returned from the war, half a leg lighter, and walked around town with one pant leg pinned back so that everyone could see his loss. If nothing could be done about ugliness, you ought to at least look like you were trying to hide it.”

Quote by Brit Bennett

Book:The Vanishing Half
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The Vanishing Half

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Brit Bennett

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“Experts in the fashion industry say the first clothes that people are drawn to are instinctual. Think of your favorite clothes as a child. Then as you mature, you focus deeper into the self. Now you favor clothes that involve sexuality, yours and other people's. You begin to reflect your profession, your mental state, then address your personal affectations. Your personhood. And then you start to look into the world. At society and history and nature. You feel for texture and you create contrasts and distance.”

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“Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those who are constantly and intelligently on the spot can hope to govern themselves effectively by democratic procedures. A society, most of whose members spend a great part of their time, not on the spot, not here and now and in their calculable future, but somewhere else, in the irrelevant other worlds of sport and soap opera, of mythology and metaphysical fantasy, will find it hard to resist the encroachments of those would manipulate and control it.”

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“Some hoped, watching Desiree hold the hand of the little dark girl, that the two wouldn't even stay that long. They weren't used to having a dark child amongst them and were surprised by how much it upset them. Each time that girl passed by, no hat or nothing, they were as galled as when Thomas Richard returned from the war, half a leg lighter, and walked around town with one pant leg pinned back to that everyone could see his loss. If nothing could be done about ugliness, you ought to at least look like you were trying to hide it.”

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“A! E alta forma, o forma care, din punct de vedere estetic, nu este prea frumoasa! N-am sa inteleg niciodata de ce a arunca in oameni cu bombe, a-i omori in asediu reglementar este o forma mai respectabila? Teama de estetica este primul indiciu al neputintei!... Niciodata, niciodata n-am simtit-o mai bine ca acum, si inteleg mai putin ca oricand care este crima mea! Niciodata, niciodata n-am fost mai puternic si mai convins ca acum! [...] Ar fi interesant de stiut daca in cei 15-20 de ani care vor urma sufletul meu se va potoli intr-atat incat sa scancesc smerit in fata oamenilor, numindu-ma, cand trebuie si cand nu trebuie, talhar? Da, da, intocmai! Pentru asta ma trimit ei la ocna, de asta au ei nevoie... Uite-i cum misuna pe strada incolo si incoace, si fiecare din ei este din firea lui un ticalos si un talhar; mai rau inca: este un idiot! Dar sa incerce numai sa nu ma trimita la ocna si ei toti au sa turbeze de nobila indignare! O, cat ii urasc pe toti! Care este procesul care il va face pe el sa se supuna tuturora, fara sa mai stea sa judece, sa se supuna convins ca asa trebuie sa fie? De ce nu? Fireste, asa trebuie sa se intample! Oare 20 de ani de apasare necontenita nu-l vor frange definitiv? Apa sapa pietrele. Pentru ce, pentru ce atunci sa mai traiesc, pentru ce ma duc, daca stiu ca toate se vor intampla intocmai ca in carte si nu altfel?!" De ieri isi punea poate pentru a suta oara aceasta intrebare si totusi mergea inainte.”

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“Every program tunnels into possibility. A frog tries to cross a busy street. An ape defends himself with barrel bombs. Under those ridiculous, blocky skins, creatures from another dimension pour into Neelay's world. And there's only the narrowest window of time in which to really see them, before these things that never were turn into things that have always been. In a few years, a kid like him will be given cognitive behavioral therapy for his Asperger's and SSRIs to smooth out his awkward human interactions. But he knows something certain, before almost anyone else: People are in for it. Once, the fate of the human race might have been in the hands of the well adjusted, the social ones, the masters of emotion. Now all that is getting upgraded.”

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