“I remember wondering, within a year or two of taking my first my first steps, why only men sat to drink tea and converse, and why women were always busy. I reasoned that men were weak and needed rest.”

“I stood up to take some air outside. The stars were brilliant that night, and the cicadas were crying in endless song. If the sky was so perfect, why was the earth all wrong?”

“But I have long loved the written word, and come to see in it the power of the sleeping lion. This is my name. This is who I am. This is how I got here. In the absence of an audience, I will write down my story so that it waits like a restful beast with lungs breathing and heart beating.”

“I looked up from the street and again at the wretched captives. I vowed not to let the noises of the city drown out their voices or rob me of my past. It was less painful to forget, but I would look and I would remember.”

“I had learned that there were times when fighting was impossible, when the best thing to do was to wait and to learn.”

“If the sky was so perfect, why was the earth all wrong”

“You must learn to respect," Papa said.But I do not respect her," I said.Papa paused for a moment, and patted my leg. "Then you must learn to hide your disrespect.”