N K Jemisin Quotes

Once upon a time there was aOnce upon a time there was aOnce upon a time there was aStop this. It's undignified.

They live forever. But many of them are even more lonely and miserable than we are. Why do you think they bother with us? We teach them life's value.

Daddy," she says again, this time putting more of a needy whine into her voice. It is the thing that has swayed him, these times when he has come near to turning on her: remembering that she is his little girl. Reminding him that he has been, up to today, a good father.It is a manipulation. Something of her is warped out of true by this moment, and from now on all her acts of affection toward her father will be calculated, performative. Her childhood dies, for all intents and purposes. But that is better than all of her dying, she knows.

For all those that have to fight for the respect that everyone else is given without question.

It is blasphemy to separate oneself from the earth and look down on it like a god. It is more than blasphemy; it is dangerous. We can never be gods, after all - but we can become something less than human with frightening ease.

She has seen him fight his own brutal nature, and the Earth itself, in order to be the parent she needs. He has helped her learn to love herself for what she is.

No voting on who gets to be people.

So there was love, once. More than love. And now there is more than hate. Mortals have no words for what we gods feel. Gods have no words for such things. But love like that doesn't just disappear, does it? No matter how powerful the hate, there is always love left, underneath. Horrible, isn't it?

You have seen so much purposeless suffering that at least being killed for a reason can be borne?

Being useful to others is not the same thing as being equal.

How terrible to be a god of change and endure grief unending.

Because that is how one survives eternity,” I say, “or even a few years. Friends. Family. Moving with them. Moving forward.

And Mother does not hate her; actually, she fears Damaya. Is there a difference? Maybe.

How can we prepare for the future if we won’t acknowledge the past?

Only learning oneself better, and understanding one’s place in the world, made the touch of another mundane.

I think,' Hoa says slowly, 'that if you love someone, you don't get to choose how they love you back.