A precious liquid, a poison dearer than that of the Borgias — because it is made from our blood, our health, our sleep, and two-thirds of our love — we must be stingy with it. – Charles Baudelaire, “Advice to Young Writers,” 1867
My hope is that the Chinese government will come to realise that it is futile to repress free speech, and that contrary to what they believe a regimes strength rests not its suppression of a plurality of opinions and ideas, but in its capacity and willingness to encourage them. – Ma Jian