Sylvia

https://www.tiktok.com/@sylviadastra?_t=8pi4DcQ0eky&_r=1

[sylviadastra]

25 books for 2025

[sylviadastra]

All this, the debris of her living, somehow made her absence feel absolute and stifling. She was everywhere and nowhere at once.

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"Sometimes I want to think about being good. But it doesn't choose me. It just doesn't. I'm no good at goodness."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"That's the only real thing about me, that I'm sitting here next to you at this bus stop. That's it. Everything else, what I do, what I've done, the goals and promises, they're all, like, ghosts. For most people, their ghost is inside them, waiting to float out when they die. But my ghost is in pieces." He pointed with his chin at the scattered trees. "It's all over the place, caught in all the spots where I snagged myself."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"I don't have any second chances. Just you. That's it. You're my second chance."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

Hai trained his eyes on Grazina, willing her to look at him, to give him the bridge they could cross together but she wouldn't do it.

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"No, I didn't outlive Stalin to be depressed." She shook her head defiantly. "You kids blame everything on feelings."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

What good is beauty, any beauty, if nobody wins?

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"We might be beautiful, but it doesn't matter when we're losers."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

At what point does childhood sadness become adult sadness anyway?

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

A boy whose face she'd never seen had become the boy whose face he couldn't forget

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"I wish I knew you long ago. We would've helped each other. Wouldn't we?"

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"Words cast spells. You should know this as a writer. That's why it's called spelling, Labas."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"She was just a girl from long ago. No one remembers her but me."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"The reason why it's so good," she lifted her head, "is because it's a lie."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"You can't hurt me. You can never hurt me. I've been through much worse than being yelled at."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

[sylviadastra]

"That it has meaning when somebody dies. That it leads to something. But it doesn't." Her voice sounded buried. "The only thing that's different is that I can't stand flowers now."

-The emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong