Soothing Rays

“For the empire is huge. Complex. Often unwieldy and slow. And in many places, weak. A massive colossus, stretching out across the cantons, one in whose shadow we all live...and yet it is prone to wounds, infections, fevers, and ill humors. But its strangest feature is that the more its citizens feel it is broken, the more broken it actually becomes.”
― Robert Jackson Bennett, The Tainted Cup

“I am but paper. Brittle and thin. I am held up to the sun, and it shines right through me. I get written on, and I can never be used again. These scratches are a history. They’re a story. They tell things for others to read, but they only see the words, and not what the words are written upon. I am but paper, and though there are many like me, none are exactly the same. I am parched parchment. I have lines. I have holes. Get me wet, and I melt. Light me on fire, and I burn. Take me in hardened hands, and I crumple. I tear. I am but paper. Brittle and thin.”
― T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea

“A joke: What do you do with a sick chemist?
Helium. Or curium. Or barium.”
― Weike Wang, Chemistry

“This is a dandelion, " I told him. He shrugged. "I know. Some see a weed; some see a flower. Perspective.”
― Kiera Cass, The Crown