My go-to default is to try to be nice, which I feel does less harm in the long run than trying to be, say, assertive. If I am nice and maybe too passive, I find that easier to live with.
George SaundersToni Morrison seems to have a lot of faith in people - that's what I mean by gentle power.
George SaundersIf you haven't read you don't have the voice. The lack of voice eliminates experience.
George SaundersWhat concerns me most is the horrible degradation our notions of truth, civility, and decency have undergone. Also the way that language has been malformed - we have been overcome with banality and the cynical misuse of language. When a candidate runs a campaign on a series of dog-whistles to bigots, then turns around and talks about "healing the wounds of division," that is right out of Orwell.
George Saunders