Quotes from Monica Ali

Harriet, an atheist, was championing the rights of true believers. She could argue anything, any position. Yasmin—despite her sinking feeling—admired the way Harriet's mind darted, her panoramic intellect, her insatiable curiosity. Ma and Baba had a new thought only once a decade. That was probably an overestimate. Their views never changed. Baba had no time for religion and now was the time for him to say so out loud. Come on, Baba! Speak!

All books are investments (p.134)

Why don't you read a novel? There's more truth in fiction than in fact.

He still smelled of limes. It made saliva come into her mouth. It made her feel that before she had been sleepy, and now she was awake.

The sari's rose-pink border was fringed with a layer of mud. Patches of sweat darkened the underarms of her choli. Trust Ma to dress inappropriately for every occasion or activity.

She was greatly moved by her mother's love marriage, more than she had been in years. Love, Ma was telling her, not only in words but by example, conquers all.

She wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands. "I'm alright, stop fussing. Stop treating me like a child." "I will if you stop acting like one." He smiled. "Do we have ourselves a deal?" He held out his hand as though they would shake on it but she folded her arms and turned her head.

What I did not know—I was a young man—is that there are two kinds of love. The kind that starts off big and slowly wears away, that seems you can never use it up and then one day is finished. And the kind that you don't notice at first, but which adds a little bit to itself every day, like an oyster makes a pearl, grain by grain, a jewel from the sand.

He came as a man of science, to observe a rare specimen: unhappiness greater than his own.

Joe sighed. "I just thought that if I moved away, if I physically removed myself…" "This thought arises, naturally," said Sandor. "But here's something I've learned from my patients over the years, especially the drug addicts who often drifted from place to place, town to town, looking for somewhere their lives would be different. What they taught me is that wherever you go, there you are. What you seek to leave behind is something inside you.

You see, it was largely a matter of tariffs. Export and import duties. Silk and cotton goods had seventy or eighty per cent tax slapped on them, and we were not allowed to retaliate.' Nazneen had drifted. She straightened the dining chairs and shivered at some remembered pleasure. 'The Dhaka looms were sacrificed,' said Chanu, 'so that the mills of Manchester could be born.' Nazneen came round to her duties. 'They were closed down by the British?

She put her free hand briefly across his round cheek. To touch like this was permitted here, among these stateless people, where the rules were unknown and in any case suspended.

The thought of writing was always pleasant, but the process was painful. However much she thought of to tell, however the words flowed in her head as she performed her chores, despite the emotion that swelled and throbbed while the storylines formed, the telling was inevitably brief and blunt, a poor thing, stunted as a failed crop.

Sometime when people see a beautiful thing they want to destroy it. The thing make them feel ugly so they act ugly.

She smiled at her sister-in-law's small sad face, all her features lined up, as ever, to mourn for everything that had passed and all that would come to pass.

What could not be changed must be borne. And since nothing could be changed, everything had to be borne.

When she woke she thought I know what I would wish but by now she knew that where she wanted to go was not a different place but a different time.

But if you do not wish to speak, I do not wish to hear.

Fighting against one's Fate can weaken the blood. Sometimes, or perhaps most times, it can be fatal.

But there were no servants here. She would have to manage by herself.

He calls for food. Who will feed me? I, who have fed so many, am hungry. Bring me food. Let there be food. Oysters on a silver salver. He drinks them from their shells. Sweet skewers of pork with a peanut glaze. He tears them with his teeth. Filo parcels of feta and spinach. He breaks them with his hands. His prayer is answered. The feast surrounds him.

If you are strong you withstand the storm. Can you see? The storm comes and everything is blurred. But all that is built on a solid foundation has only to stand fast and wait for the storm to pass.

If she could leave him so easily, if it was as easy as that, then why did she ever begin it?

Rania's clothes said, This is me! Yasmin's said, I am a stranger to myself.