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“I was in a friend group where we were saying the most shocking things for the sake of shock value, and you know, in the same kind of messages, I said extremely anti-Semitic things, and it’s not representative of who I am because I go to synagogue every week, and my parents are Jewish. This isn’t ... who I am. There is no weight behind what I said, no animus. It was simply who could say the most shocking thing. That was the friend group I was with at the time. Those are the people I was with.”
— Kyle Kashuv, Kyle Kashuv on his Harvard crisis: "I wish I could take it back. I can’t."
Tagged: Jewish, racism, Parkland School Shooting, Animus, Apologies
“We can never get those people back, but we can fight for justice.”
— Kyle Kashuv, Kyle Kashuv: Justice Has Finally Come for the Coward Who Let My Peers Die
Tagged: Parkland School Shooting, Gun Control, Second Amendment, Justice
“The school resource officer, who cowered behind a wall and let my peers die, has finally been held accountable. For those who don’t know, this man literally stood outside a building and knew there was a shooter, knew he saw the rifle bag, he heard the shots. He was armed and he didn’t act. It was his job to go into the building and save my peers. Because of him, 17 of my peers were murdered.”
— Kyle Kashuv, Kyle Kashuv: Justice Has Finally Come for the Coward Who Let My Peers Die
Tagged: Parkland School Shooting, Gun Control, Second Amendment, Scot Peterson
“I’ve said repeatedly that I'm horrified by comments I sent a few years back—I’ll spend years working to make it right. I will accept and learn from the criticism, but I will NOT accept being compared to the shooter who murdered my classmates.”
— Kyle Kashuv, Kyle Kashuv
Tagged: Parkland School Shooting, David Hogg, Second Amendment
“Playing with my fingertips
Sitting there biting your lip
Trying to kiss, who are you trying to trick?
Why don't you just cut the shit?”
— Hayley Kiyoko, He'll Never Love You(HNLY)
Tagged: Hot, chemistry, Songs, Song Lyrics, Lesbian Jesus
“Multiple ex-members compared aspects of the group dynamic to a 'cult.'”
— Amy Zimmerman, Eight Women Accuse Hollywood Filmmaker Max Landis of Emotional and Sexual Abuse
Tagged: Max Landis, Abuse, Assault, Emotional Abuse, Sexual Abuse
“While you can argue that the show can still be appreciated within the timeframe it was set, there is absolutely no getting away from the fact that certain aspects of the show have not aged well.”
— Laura Jane Turner, A Friends reunion would be a terrible idea- and here's why
Tagged: Friends, TV, TV Reunions
“Look, I’m a lesbian, which means I live and die for context clues.”
— Jill Gutowitz, Every Easter Egg in Taylor Swift’s ‘You Need to Calm Down’ Music Video
Tagged: Taylor Swift, You Need To Calm Down, Easter eggs, Hidden Clues, Lesbians, LMAO
“The world is filled with wonders, never forget!!!!! Make some bread today!!!!!!!! So that you can have it tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
— Edith Zimmerman, The Greatest Thing to Do Is Make Some Bread
Tagged: Bread, Cooking, Baking, LOL, This Is Cute
“According to The Times, Constantin was sent to a foster family in Michigan, where he stayed for five months — long enough for him to become so attached to his foster parents that he was despondent when they finally took him back to Romania to be reunited with his birth parents when he was 9 months old. Now, The Times wrote, he's experiencing developmental delays and, at 18 months old, still can't walk on his own or say any words.”
— Lani Seelinger, The Youngest Child Separated At The Border Is Now Back Where His Journey Began
Tagged: Constatin Mutu , Immigration, Refuge, American Borders, This Is Child Abuse
“I was used to being the person in a relationship who, comparatively, had more of her shit together. I took care of things for the both of us. What would it be like if, for a change, I let somebody else take care of me?”
— Shannon Keating, The Time I Went On A Lesbian Cruise And It Blew Up My Entire Life
Tagged: My Favorites, sexuality, Love, Blowing Up Your Life, Changes, Love at First Sight, Breakups
“Maybe you have dinner reservations or other plans and can’t spend time complaining to an unresponsive host or Airbnb rep. Maybe you just don’t want to ruin the trip.”
— Tracy Moore, What To Do When Your AirBnb Is A Bigger Shithole Than You Thought
Tagged: Airbnb, Home Rentals, Bad Vacations, Advice
“They’ve done something that the companies in the firearm industry cannot do on their own: make the gun lifestyle as attractive and aspirational as all the others on Instagram.”
— Kaitlyn Tiffany, Instagram’s most powerful influencers are women who love guns
Tagged: Guns, Pro Gun, NRA, Influencers, Gun Nuts, Instagram
“A manager saw that she was not feeling well, and brought a trash can to her desk so she could vomit in it.”
— Casey Newton, Three Facebook moderators break their NDAs to expose a company in crisis
Tagged: Media Cliff Notes
“You need to know that you cannot control your feelings, and you cannot control your feelings about your feelings, but, as best as you can, intellectually understand that your feelings are valid and they're okay and don't try to stifle them or feel shame about them.”
— Raphael Bob-Waksberg, The Creator Of 'Bojack Horseman' On How He Deals With Anxiety
Tagged: Netflix, Mental Health
“In a world of growers and showers, consider it nature’s way of bringing some equality to packages everywhere.”
— Brittany Wong, Does 'Summer Penis' Exist? The Truth About Men Looking Bigger In The Heat
Tagged: Penis Size, Summer
“Throughout its history, Harvard’s faculty has included slave owners, segregationists, bigots and antisemites. If Harvard is suggesting that growth isn't possible and that our past defines our future, then Harvard is an inherently racist institution.”
— Kyle Kashuv, Harvard pulls Parkland student offer 'over slurs'
Tagged: Harvard University
“If you’re still looking to have fun without the crowds, a small celebration where you can surround yourself with friends may be your best bet. A small gathering can be whatever you want, as long as you feel safe and happy surrounded by people you care for and who care for you.”
— Elly Belle, 5 Ways To Celebrate Pride If You Don't Want To Go To A Big Parade
Tagged: Pride Month, LGBTQ
“Taking epic travel photos can be tough, whether it’s getting the light just right and framing the shots just-so. Who better to dole out some helpful tips than travel Instagrammers with massive followings?”
— Kate Auletta, How To Take Better Travel Pics, According To Instagrammers
Tagged: Instagram, travel
“Though the desired results may differ and have a different vocabulary — lean vs. skinny; jacked vs. in shape; keto vs. low carb — research suggests that young men are just as susceptible to disordered eating as young women are, but because our cultural framework positions both dieting and disordered eating as largely female endeavors, we just don’t recognize what it looks like in men.”
— Katie Heaney, The Way Men’s Media Cover Dieting Is … Weird
Tagged: Men's Diets, Diet Culture, Eating Behavior, Eating Disorder
“The usage of chosen or true names versus 'deadnames' in the trans and non-binary communities is more than a source of identity, it is also an issue of mental health and safety.”
— AJ Willingham, Mastercard will let transgender, non-binary people use their chosen name on cards
Tagged: LGBT, Gender Identity, Trasgender, Names, Dead Names, Identity
“Is sharing your story going to change the minds of a lawmaker intent on overturning Roe? Probably not. But will it make an impact on the overall cultural perception of abortion and why reproductive healthcare access matters? Possibly.”
— Anna Borges, On Choosing to Share Your Abortion Story Online Or Not
Tagged: Abortion, Women's Health, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights
“Bryukhanov: I take it the safety test was a failure?

Anatoly Dyatlov: We have the situation under control.

Fomin: Under control? It doesn't look like it's under control.

Bryukhanov: Shut up, Fomin. I have to tell the Central Committee about this. Do you realize that? I have to get on the phone and tell Maryin, or God forbid Frolyshev, that my power plant is on fire.

Anatoly Dyatlov: No one can blame you for this, Director Bryukanov.

Bryukhanov: Of course no one can blame me for this. How can I be responsible? I was sleeping.”
— Anatoly Dyatlov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: 1
Tagged: Nuclear Meltdown, Radiation, Chernobyl
“Misha: [Picks up chunk of graphite from core] Vasily... Hey, Vasily, what's this?

Vasily Ignatenko: I don't know, Misha. Don't fuck around with it. Hook these up, come on. [to so-and-so]  Do you taste metal?

Misha: Yeah, what is that?

Vasily Ignatenko: I don't know.

Misha: [later] No!

[Screams from intense radiation burns to hand]”
— Lyudmilla Ignatenko, Chernobyl, Miniseries: 1
Tagged: radiation burns
“No one leaves. We cut the phone lines. Contain the spread of misinformation. That is how we keep the people from undermining the fruits of their own labor.”
— Zharkov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: 1
Tagged: misniformation, Labor
“[Ending scene: As Legasov is driven away from Chernobyl by the KGB, his voice on tape is heard]

To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants. It doesn't care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask: ‘What is the cost of lies?’”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: Chernobyl, Scientist, Lies, Naive
“[Legasov is arrested by the KGB for refusing to toe the party line and is led to a private interrogation room]

Charkov: [reads file] Valery Alexeyevich Legasov, son of Alexei Legasov, Head of Ideological Compliance, Central Committee. Do you know what your father did there?

Legasov: Yes.

Charkov: As a student, you had a leadership position in Komsomol. Communist Youth, correct?

Legasov: You already know.

Charkov: Answer the question.

Legasov: Yes.

Charkov: At the Kuchartov Institute, you were the Communist Party secretary. In the position, you limited the promotion of Jewish scientists.

Legasov: Yes.

Charkov: To curry favor with Kremlin officials. You're one of us, Legasov. I can do anything I want with you. But what I want most is for you to know that I know. You're not brave. You're not heroic. You're just a dying man who forgot himself.

Legasov: I know who I am, and I know what I've done. In a just world, I'd be shot for my lies, but not for this, not for the truth.

Charkov: Scientists...and your idiot obsessions with reasons. When the bullet hits your skull, what will it matter why? [beat] No one's getting shot, Legasov. The whole world saw you in Vienna; it would be embarrassing to kill you now. And for what? Your testimony today will not be accepted by the State. It will not be disseminated in the press. It never happened. No... you will live, however long you have. But not as a scientist. Not anymore. You'll keep your title and your office, but no duties. No authority. No friends. No one will talk to you. No one will listen to you. Other men, lesser men, will receive credit for the things you have done. Your legacy is now their legacy; you will live long enough to see that. [beat] What role did Shcherbina play in this?

Legasov: None. He didn't know what I was gonna say.

Charkov: What role did Khomyuk play in this?

Legasov: None. She didn't know either.

Charkov: After all you've said and done today, it would be curious if you chose this moment to lie.

Legasov: I would think a man of your experience would know a lie when he hears one.

Charkov: [beat] You will not meet or communicate with either one of them ever again. You will not communicate with anyone about Chernobyl ever again. You will remain so immaterial to the world around you that when you finally do die, it will be exceedingly hard to know that you ever lived at all. [starts to exit]

Legasov: What if I refuse?

Charkov: [turns back to face Legasov] Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?

Legasov: [Scoffs] ‘Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?’ Oh, that's perfect. They should put that on our money.”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: Chernobyl, Communist Youth, Communist Party, Vienna
“Legasov: No one in the room that night knew the shutdown button (AZ-5) could act as a detonator. They didn't know it, because it was kept from them.

Kadnikov: Comrade Legasov, you're contradicting your own testimony in Vienna.

Legasov: My testimony in Vienna was a lie. I lied to the world. I'm not the only one who kept this secret. There are many. We were following orders, from the KGB, from the Central Committee. And right now, there are 16 reactors in the Soviet Union with the same fatal flaw. Three of them are still running less than 20 kilometers away at Chernobyl.

Kadnikov: Professor Legasov, if you mean to suggest the Soviet State is somehow responsible for what happened, then I must warn you, you are treading on dangerous ground.

Legasov: I've already trod on dangerous ground. We're on dangerous ground right now, because of our secrets and our lies. They're practically what define us. When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there. But it is...still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid. That is how...an RBMK reactor core explodes: Lies.”
— Valery Legasov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: KGB, Vienna, Soviet Union, Lies
“[As the courtroom is at a recess, Legasov meets with Shcherbina outside]

Shcherbina: [Coughing] Do you know anything about this town, Chernobyl?

Legasov: Not really, no.

Shcherbina: It was mostly Jews and Poles. The Jews were killed in pogroms, and Stalin forced the Poles out. And then the Nazis came and killed whoever was left. But after the war people came to live here anyway. They knew the ground under their feet was soaked in blood, but they didn't care. Dead Jews, dead Poles. But not them. No one ever thinks it's going to happen to them. And here we are.

Legasov: How much time?

Shcherbina: Maybe a year. They call it a...[coughs] They call it a ‘long illness.’

Legasov: It doesn't seem very long to me.

Shcherbina: I know you told me, and I believed you. But time passed, and I thought, it wouldn't happen to me. I wasted it. I wasted it all for nothing.

Legasov: For nothing?

Shcherbina: Do you remember that morning when I first called you, how unconcerned I was? I don't believe much that comes out of the Kremlin, but when they told me they were putting me in charge of the cleanup and they said it wasn't serious, I believed them. You know why?

Legasov: Because they put you in charge.

Shcherbina: Yeah. I'm an inconsequential man, Valera. That's all I've ever been. I hoped that one day I would matter, but I didn't. I just stood next to people who did.

Legasov: There are other scientists like me. Any one of them could have done what I did. But you...Everything we asked for, everything we needed. Men, material, lunar rovers. Who else could have done these things? They heard me, but they listened to you. Of all the ministers, and all the deputies, entire congregation of obedient fools, they mistakenly sent the one good man. For god's sake, Boris, you were the one who mattered most.

Shcherbina: [Sees a small caterpillar on his lap and lets it crawl on his index finger] Ah, it's beautiful.”
— Anatoly Dyatlov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: Chernobyl, Jews, Poles, Pogroms
“[Pripyat, April 25, 1986 - twelve hours prior to the explosion]

Fomin: I hear they might promote Bryukhanov. This little problem we have with the safety test, if it's completed successfully... yes, I think promotion's very likely. Who knows? Maybe Moscow. Naturally, they'll put me in charge once he's gone, and then I'll need someone to take my old job. I could pick Sitnikov.

Dyatlov: I would like to be considered.

Fomin: We'll keep that in mind. [Bryukhanov enters] Viktor Petrovich, preparations for the test have gone smoothly. Comrade Dyatlov's been working per my instructions, and reactor 4's output has been reduced to 1600 megawatts. With your approval, we're ready to continue lowering power to—

Bryukhanov: We have to wait.

Fomin: Is, uh...

Bryukhanov: Are you going to ask me if there's a problem, Nikolai? You can't read a fucking face? Three years, I've tried to finish this test. Three years. [lights a cigarette] I've just had a call from the grid controller in Kiev. He says we can't lower power any further. Not for another ten hours.

Dyatlov: A grid controller? Where does he get off telling us—

Bryukhanov: It's not the grid controller's decision, Dyatlov. It's the end of the month. All the productivity quotas. Everyone's working overtime, the factories need power, someone's pushing down from above, not that we'll ever know who. [sighs] So do we have to scrap it, or what?

Fomin: No, I don't think so. If we need to wait ten hours, we wait.

Bryukhanov: [to Dyatlov] Running half power, not going to have stability issues?

Fomin: No, I should think—

Bryukhanov: I'm not asking you.

Dyatlov: It's safe. We'll maintain at 1600. I'll go home, get some sleep, come back tonight. We'll proceed then. I'll personally supervise the test, and it will be completed.

Bryukhanov: Well, I'm not waiting around. Call me when it's done.”
— Anatoly Dyatlov, Chernobyl, Miniseries: Open Wide, O Earth
Tagged: Moscow, Kiev

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This page was created by our editorial team. Each page is manually curated, researched, collected, and issued by our staff writers. Quotes contained on this page have been double checked for their citations, their accuracy and the impact it will have on our readers.

Kelly Peacock is an accomplished poet and social media expert based in Brooklyn, New York. Kelly has a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Farieligh Dickinson University and has contributed to many literary and cultural publications. Kelly assists on a wide variety of quote inputting and social media functions for Quote Catalog. Visit her personal website here.

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