All Quotes

"Historical actors on all sides were engaging in what I call “legal politics”—that is, they were using and citing law strategically while enmeshed in multi-sided conflicts and relationships. In the process, they were creating and reinforcing regimes of limited violence with very specific openings to extreme violence."

"We should heap skepticism on any group launching a small war or brief attack claiming that they possess workable mechanisms for keeping small wars small."

"She has made a uniquely powerful case that the history of international law must take into account not simply the arguments of prominent legal theorists but also the actions and arguments of a host of actors from all over the world, what she has called "vernacular forms of political theory.""

"We gather here not just to celebrate but to remind ourselves of the great power that lives in the hearts of Batswana. It is built by young people who refuse to take the backseat. Their drive shows that solutions for global challenges can start right here in Botswana."

"Lauren Benton has done more than any other scholar in recent generations to reintegrate global history with legal history. With archival tenacity and broad conceptual sweep, she has used fine-grained microhistory in the service of world-spanning arguments about the tentative distribution of imperial power, the informal elaboration of international law, and the paradoxes of sovereignty in a world unevenly colonized and incompletely decolonized."

"”Stay Here”"

"”I was a Prisoner in your Skull”"

"”Hypogirl”"

"”The Seer”"

"”The Seer Returns”"

"Early Swans really is like little else on the planet before or since"

"The Slave EP was a sound that I always wanted to hear, just the bleakest and blackest. The minimalist approach of the music, that was what really influenced me. It was non-genre-specific, with a total lack of baggage... purely abstract, surreal, and violent. It communicated to me in a very special way, and taught me that heavy metal could be stripped of everything and reduced to its most primal form. ... Swans ... paved the way for me."

"…a cacophonous rhythmic throb which drew on post-punk, industrial, doom metal, NYC avant minimalism and the blues; a sound which was matched by Gira's often nihilistic, anti-natalist and existential lyrical concerns ... delivered in a stentorian and messianic manner."

"Going forward … things will be simpler and more intimate for Swans. When that time comes, I look forward to discovering a fresh path towards a new sonic terrain in which to dwell."

"It started in the sewer. Ugliness embodied. Noise like you’d never heard. The bellowing drawl of an unhinged slave driver, spitting abuse and mantras of degradation. "Nobody beats you like a cop, with his club." "Someone weaker than you should rape you." Lyrics sailed past pitch-black into some deeper, darker void of nastiness. The music was supposed to hurt. This was NYC in the early '80s. This was Swans."

"In its earliest incarnation, Swans set out to inflict itself upon the listener –- violation and domination set to post-punk sludge, meant to break you down, bend you over, and tear right through. Mastermind and sole constant Michael Gira drew on the writings of Jean Genet and the Marquis de Sade to sculpt his repetitious tirades, while an ever-shifting live band channeled the urban blight of no-wave and industrial into something much worse. The early records remain some of the most unapologetic, uncompromising sounds ever recorded."

"With the addition of Jarboe on vocals and keys –- she was the only other constant from '84-'97 –- structures began to shift, songs coalesced into singable, hummable things, and Swans burst outward in a cruel bloom of contradictory sounds. The first transitional records saw the original stew of post-punk and sludge retrofitted to stuttering industrial beats while softer, piano tracks started to appear. Before long, each passing record took on a new persona, and each shift saw the band's vision grow exponentially in texture and scope. Gira's obsessions -- power, religion, sex, death -- remained constant, but his impressionistic, shouted rants found new strength when he adopted a baritone croon and learned to tell stories, softening his attack to serve a higher calling."

"Swans' path was not without potholes: an infamous cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" jumps out as one of the worst things they ever did, and Gira has more or less disowned an entire chunk of his back catalog. But even the missteps offer substance greater than most bands could imagine."

"The whole idea of being a noise band at this point is the most conformist, conservative, consumerist, brain-dead route you could take. I think it would be more adventurous to sing at a Holiday Inn."

"Closing track “Finally, Peace.” may end the album on a reflective high point, but by album’s end, I lay paralyzed, unable to decide if I desired a repeat or a reprieve. Unsettling as it may be, this conflict is a testament to Swans’ unparalleled ability to translate the absurd violence of the human condition into music that’s as intoxicating as it is intense."

"I wanted Swans to be 'heavier', though. I wanted the music to obliterate — why, I don’t remember! I think it just felt good."

"By 1986/7 Swans had run its course with the physical assault of sound that we had employed previously for the most part. I wanted to move on to other things and didn’t want to get stuck in some style, which in our case had the potential of becoming cartoonish if we’d continued in that direction. So, I pushed the music into unfamiliar territory."

"Swans are majestic, beautiful-looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments."

"Granted, it’s not like Swans bludgeon you to death like it’s 1985 anymore, as the band’s sound has, of course, evolved significantly over the years to incorporate more dynamics, nuance, but perhaps most importantly: suspense. Case in point was their opening number, “The End of Forgetting,” which started out sounding like the aural equivalent of watching the sun rise from space, while steadily building in intensity/tempo before ultimately swelling into a massive, all-consuming crescendo that felt like you were being sucked into a pulsar by the end of it."

"Gira would often lose himself in the music, closing his eyes intently while performing, or flailing his arms wildly and dancing on stage with the fervor of a cult leader who had just drank some potent snake venom."

"When I started playing rugby, I never thought I’d be the first player to score 100 points, let alone 200. But I’m very proud to say I’ve achieved that."

"But as unhinged as Gira may have seemed at times, such compulsions felt fully justified during performances of “The Merge,” for example. With the help of Dana Schechter, who added another wickedly groovy and powerful bass guitar to the mix, the band conjured up a truly intoxicating, almost tribal-flavored sonic swirl that had most of the crowd hypnotically nodding and grinding away to the relentlessly rhythm-heavy intensity of the music."

"I've learnt that hair and beauty are deeply personal"

"You can't shame someone into feeling good about themselves; they have to come to it on their own time"

"My natural crown is a celebration of who I am"

"My heart will always belong to the stage"

"I am not at a stage where I feel like a veteran"

"I am happy with where I am"

"I don't mind not being on TV for a certain time, as long as in that time I am busy with something"

"When a show has been running for a while, the actors form a bond and a rhythm of the show and they get into a groove. When you get there you have to match that energy"

"Every actor's job is to get her act right and make sure that she gels so well with the other actor's that viewers can't tell that you are new"

"I then stopped reading because I decided that I needed to bring this person to life onscreen because a character in a book is different."

"I like my work to be one side and just leave it there and then I come to a place where I am accepted, a place where I can just be me and fun things and be happy."

"Even in the same industry, the presence of healthy competition doesn't imply that we (women) don't respect each other. I think it also says a lot about the person when they find another powerful woman to be threatening. It says something about how you see yourself as opposed to what the other women are doing"

"I think often we are told the story that powerful women can't get along right? But I think it's kind of a male perspective course when men are together they somehow feel like there can only be one dominant male. Like, there's only enough light for one spot light and so when they look at women they project that onto women as well"

"When we finished playing [against France], I saw a big sign saying, 'Hele, can I swap shirts with you?I asked him to come through, and I said I'd meet him at the gate when I came out.I didn't swap with any of the French girls because I had kept my shirt for him. And when I got there, he was waiting and smiling. That really warmed my heart. I thought 'Aseza, you are doing good.I've inspired young boys, not just girls. It warmed my heart to make someone's dream come true."

"Rugby has changed my life. I am the person I am today because of where I came from and the choices I made.Now, I'm able to feed my family because of rugby. I have my car because of rugby. My first flight was because of rugby."

"I’m a sweetheart, But when I play, you see the monster on the field. I cannot explain how I get to that point."

"When I meet people in the street or in the shopping centre they tell me, ‘You’re so sweet in real life’.But I now like what I see. It’s not that I become a different person. I become a different version of myself. Who I am on the field is me. It’s a part of me. It’s good that I can let that part of me out. I think it’s important to show people that women and girls can be more than just one thing."

"I always say I’m my granny’s daughter. My mom was around, but she worked far away. It was my granny who raised me. She taught me discipline and how to be soft, but also when to be strong."

"At some point I had to make a choice: keep rowing or devote (my life) to rugby. My parents wanted me to stay with the former, but I really wanted the rugby dream."

"I loved rowing but it was the same thing over and over again. The excitement wasn’t there for me, and as rugby was packed with thrilling new challenges, it made it easier for me to make a decision"

"I never thought that I would end up playing sevens, and then I was playing it. The same happened with the 15s and me going to England. The world of rugby just opened up to me, and I had to go through those doors. When I raised my hand, I felt it was the right step for me. It was exciting times"

"I got an email from Lewis Sones (Saracens Women’s Performance Pathway Manager), and I thought it was a scam at first glance. I showed it to our High Performance Manager, Lynne Cantwell, and she said she would look into it."

"I struggled mentally in the first season, as I was not used to the weather or the food. It was a complete change of pace for me. I missed home, my family and friends. However, I learnt so much in that first season, and my Sarries teammates helped me every step of the way."