Katherine Boo

Much of what was said did not matter, and that much of what mattered could not be said.

What you don't want is always going to be with you
What you want is never going to be with you
Where you don't want to go, you have to go
And the moment you think you're going to live more, you're going to die”

It seemed to him that in Annawadi, fortunes derived not just from what people did, or how well they did it, but from the accidents and catastrophes they dodged. A decent life was the train that hadn’t hit you, the slumlord you hadn’t offended, the malaria you hadn’t caught.

I tell Allah I love Him immensely, immensely. But I tell Him I cannot be better, because of how the world is.

Your little boat goes west and you congratulate yourself, "What a navigator I am!" And then the wind blows you east.