Nikki > Nikki's Quotes

“This is how colonialism works. It convinces us that the fallout from resistance is entirely our fault, that the immoral choice is resistance itself rather than the circumstances that demanded it.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“colonialism is not a machine capable of thinking, a body endowed with reason. It is naked violence and only gives in when confronted with greater violence.”
― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Books. Cats. Life is Good.”
― Edward Gorey

“Just a moment," David said, planting a finger on the page to mark his place in his book. "What was your name ?"
"Yuri Vedenen, moi soverenyi."
"Yuri Veneden, if you upset my wife again, I will kill you where you stand."
The monk swallowed. "Yes, moi soverenyi."
"Oh, David," Genya said, taking his hand. "You've never theatened to murder anyone for me before."
"Haven't I?" He murmured distractedly, placed a kiss on her knuckles, and continued reading.”
― Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars

“She could feel the press of Kaz’s fingers against her skin, feel the bird’s wing brush of his mouth against her neck, see his dilated eyes. Two of the deadliest people the Barrel had to offer and they could barely touch each other without both of them keeling over. But they’d tried. He’d tried. Maybe they could try again. A foolish wish, the sentimental hope of a girl who hadn’t had the firsts of her life stolen, who hadn’t ever felt Tante Heleen’s lash, who wasn’t covered in wounds and wanted by the law. Kaz would have laughed at her optimism.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“She's going to want to wear your skull for a hat," Oak warns.
There is an uncomfortable shifting among the ex-falcons. Perhaps they are recalling their own choice to denounce her, their own punishment.
"And Cardan is going to laugh and laugh when she does.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“You belonged in the library, as much as any book.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Sorcery of Thorns

“TYPICAL. SOMEBODY says fruity edge and immediately my name comes to mind.”
― Rick Riordan, The Ship of the Dead

“If someone is terrible to everyone but you, that doesn’t make them secretly a good person.”
― Amanda Foody, Queen of Volts

“As a wise woman once said, “You know the problem with heroes and Saints? They always end up dead.” In fact, we all end up dead. But people who steal books have a truly miserable afterlife.”
― Leigh Bardugo, The Lives of Saints

“Firstly, I resent the fangirl idea that Draco Malfoy is some kind of beautifully tortured soul who is searching for redemption and understanding. He's essentially a massive racist. Secondly, the idea that bullying means that you fancy someone is basically the foundation of domestic abuse.”
― Alice Oseman, Solitaire

“Na razrusha'ya. I am not ruined. E'ya razrushost. I am ruination.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

“To the gremlin girls,
I would like to tell you something inspiring,
but the truth is,
when life closes a door for us,
it doesn’t always open a window.
The good news is:
That’s what bricks are for.”
― Margaret Owen, Little Thieves

“That's the beauty of learning a new language. It should feel like an enormous undertaking. It ought to intimidate you. It makes you appreciate the complexity of the ones you know already.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“She learned revolution is, in fact, always unimaginable. It shatters the world you know. The future is unwritten, brimming with potential. The colonizers have no idea what is coming, and that makes them panic. It terrifies them.

Good. It should.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“Books are meant to be touched, otherwise they’re useless.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“Languages aren’t just made of words. They’re modes of looking at the world. They’re the keys to civilization. And that’s knowledge worth killing for.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“You have such a great fear of freedom, brother. It's shackling you. You've identified so hard with the colonizer, you think any threat to them is a threat to you. When are you going to realize you can't be one of them?”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“How slender, how fragile, the foundations of an empire. Take away the centre, and what’s left? A gasping periphery, baseless, powerless, cut down at the roots.”
― R.F. Kuang, Babel

“I laughed. “What the fuck is Goodreads?”
― Rufi Thorpe, Margo's Got Money Troubles

“Because love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is a commitment to others. No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is commitment to their cause--the cause of liberation.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“With the establishment of a relationship of oppression, violence has already begun. Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence? How could they be the sponsors of something whose objective inauguration called forth their existence as op­pressed? There would be no oppressed had there been no prior situation of violence to establish their subjugation.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“You see, we think individualistically, and we assume that only heroic individuals can make history. That is why we like to focus on Dr. Martin Luther King, who was a great man, but in my opinion his greatness resided precisely in the fact that he learned from a collective movement.”
― Angela Y. Davis

“Grief is a house on fire. It needs to burn itself down.”
― Margaret Owen,

“...in the re­sponse of the oppressed to the violence of their oppressors that a gesture of love may be found. Consciously or unconsciously, the act of rebellion by the oppressed (an act which is always, or nearly always, as violent as the initial violence of the oppressors) can initiate love.”
― Paulo Freire

“...reality is really a process, undergoing constant transformation.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“Any situation in which some indi­viduals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence. The means used are not important; to alienate human beings from their own decision-making is to change them into objects.”
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
― Angela Y. Davis