I was despairing because that’s what’s deep under the overwhelming anger that comes with despising half the human race: despair. My work on cam was making everything toxic. Anal was de rigueur, the request for it perpetual, rude, clueless; people sent me links to women being fucked with baseball bats and Coke cans; and none of my customers could spell.

— The Pieces In Place

I suppose I am a form of the most sophisticated viral marketing yet known to man; I’m so incredibly subtle it’s impossible to tell what I’m advertising, yet you very much want to buy it. Now that’s mind control.

— Cynicism

In the days before Roe v. Wade, I doubt many American women were wracked with guilt over having abortions. They were too busy wondering if they were going to be butchered. So when luck went their way and they made it through the procedure safely, it was a cause for celebration rather than remorse. What legalized abortion brought to this country, along with safe medical practices, was the expectation of shame. So while social decency compels me to say that on the train uptown we cried and cursed fate and wondered what life might be like with a baby, the truth is we did not.

— Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty