Because evil is better organised, better equipped and better paid.

‘You know why the battle of good vs evil is so one-sided, Malin? Because evil is better organised, better equipped and better paid. It is not monsters or yakas or demons we should fear. Organised collectives of evil doers who think they are performing the work of the righteous. That is what should make us shudder.’

S. Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (2022), loc. 4,694 

Like any gathering of crashing bores talking shop, these suicides are talking about suicide

Like any gathering of crashing bores talking shop, these suicides are talking about suicide. ‘Why is Sri Lanka number one in suicides?’ asks the girl, peering through thick glasses. Are we that much more sadder or violent than the rest of the world?’ ‘Who the fuck cares?’ says the hunched figure, as a lady in pigtails does her high jump over the edge. ‘It’s because we have just the right amount of education to understand that the world is cruel,’ says the schoolgirl. ‘And just enough corruption and inequality to feel powerless against it.’ ‘And we have easy access to weedkiller,’ says the hunchback.

S. Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (2022), loc. 3,938

Known as the Uncle Nephew Party. In power since the late ’70s and embroiled in the above two wars.

LTTE – The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 

* Want a separate Tamil state. 

* Prepared to slaughter Tamil civilians and moderates to achieve this. 

JVP – The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 

* Want to overthrow the capitalist state. 

* Are willing to murder the working class while they liberate them. 

UNP – The United National Party 

* Known as the Uncle Nephew Party. 

* In power since the late ’70s and embroiled in the above two wars. 

STF – The Special Task Force 

* On behalf of the Govt, will abduct and torture anyone suspected of being or abetting the LTTE or the JVP.

S. Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (2022), loc. 348

The horror that was lynching was called life by Black America

White woman in Mississippi claimed that a fourteen-year-old Black boy had said something suggestive to her, and then her husband and brother beat the boy, wrapped barbed wire around his neck, shot him in the head, and threw him over the bridge into the Little Tallahatchie. The image of the boy in his open casket awakened the nation to the horror of lynching. At least the White nation. The horror that was lynching was called life by Black America. The killers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, were acquitted by an all-White jury.

P. Everett, The Trees (2022), loc 954

I don’t give a shit about the blood. It’s the goddamn paperwork

“Goddamnit, I hate murder more than just about anything,” said Sheriff Red Jetty. “It can just ruin a day.” “Because it’s such a waste of life?” the coroner, Reverend Cad Fondle, asked. He had just pronounced Junior Junior and the unidentified Black man dead without so much as touching them. “No, it’s because it’s a mess.” “It is a lot of blood,” Fondle said. “I don’t give a shit about the blood. It’s the goddamn paperwork.” Jetty pointed at the floor. “What you gonna do about Milam’s balls there?”

P. Everett, The Trees (2022), loc.211

How long, really, does a God need to watch shit burn before he intervenes?

Don’t tell me God is watching. Cos all my wretched life he’s been watching; how long, really, does a God need to watch shit burn before he intervenes?

N. Bulawayo, Glory (2022), loc 4,056

Military custom regarding nurses is most irrational

Military custom regarding nurses is most irrational. They are made officers and therefore not permitted to associate with enlisted men. This means that they must find their social life among other officers. But most male officers are married, especially in the medical corps. And most unmarried officers are from social levels into which nurses from small towns do not normally marry. As a result of this involved social system, military nurses frequently have unhappy emotional experiences. Cut off by law from fraternizing with those men who would like to marry them and who would have married them in civilian life, they find their friendships restricted to men who are surprisingly often married or who are social snobs.

J.A. Michener, Tales of the South Pacific (1947), loc. 793