Jennifer Steil > Quotes

“How does one develop compassion for someone with a completely different set of values without reading something from their point of view? Books are one of the ways in which we can truly get into the heads of people we would never meet in our ordinary lives and travel to countries we would otherwise never visit.”
― Jennifer Steil, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky

“People have the wrong idea about the hijab,: said Zuhra with a toss of her glossy hair. "I wear it because I respect myself. And when the beauty is hidden the more important things rise to the surface.”
― Jennifer Steil, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky

“Sometimes, when I look at my work at the newspaper and squint in just the right way, I can even see it as a microcosm of democracy itself. After all, every staff member participates in the creation of each issue. I solicit their ideas. I value the contributions of women and minorities. Of course, I wasn't democratically elected, but what newspaper chief ever was?”
― Jennifer Steil, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky

“He needed a woman with whom he could share thoughts about his work. Someone with ideas of her own, a drive of her own, someone who could introduce him to other worlds. Without this two-way exchange, where was the partnership? What was there to engage him? He didn’t need anyone to follow him; he wanted someone to take turns leading. Finn was doomed to be drawn to intelligent, ambitious women whose passions took them away from him.”
― Jennifer Steil, The Ambassador's Wife

“These are British policemen; there is no danger of shocking them with the sight of female skin.”
― Jennifer Steil, The Ambassador's Wife

“That was when the movies started up again in her mind and she didn’t know how to stop them.”
― Jennifer Steil, The Ambassador's Wife

“It didn’t occur to them that they could change things. She had forgotten the learned passivity of a people accustomed to their powerlessness. She had forgotten their religious fatalism.”
― Jennifer Steil, The Ambassador's Wife