Steven Jespersen

“The problem with bearing fanatical witness to this kind of human depravity is that ambiguity and contradiction easily overwhelm the nuance required for understanding.  There seems to me that no logic applies to our time of terror, as if it were a dream.  There was no lapse of incoherence; none of it was incomprehensible; our shared pain was not sensible then and unexplainable afterwards.  It was actually all too real all the time, and we were simply trying to navigate an uncertain passage through it in search of safety.”
― John Payton Foden, Magenta

“With the thunderous boom of each firework, Isabela’s heart sank further and further. She loved Papi, and she loved Marco. She could never choose between them.”
― Margarita Barresi, A Delicate Marriage

“Low employee engagement is a symptom of a suboptimal workplace culture”
― Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, Seeking Fairness at Work: Cracking the New Code of Greater Employee Engagement, Retention & Satisfaction

“Char was looking at me with such gladness, and I loved him so. I was the cause of his joy and would be the cause of his destruction: a secret delivered to his enemies, a letter written in my own hand, a covert signal given by me, poison in his glass, a dagger in his ribs, a fall from a parapet.
"Marry me, Ella," he said again, the order a whisper now. "Say you'll marry me."
Anyone else could have said no or yes. This wasn't a royal command. Char probably had no idea he'd given an order.
But I had to obey—wanted to obey—hated to harm him—wanted to marry him. I would destroy my love and my land. They were in anger, and no one could rescue them. We were all doomed, all cursed.
Char was too precious to hurt, too precious to lose, too precious to betray, too precious to marry, too precious to kill, to precious to obey.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted