Christine Aziz > Quotes

“Desire overwhelmed me once she had gone. But it was not a desire for Homer. I had to return to the library. I could already smell the books' muskiness and in my mind turned over pages with as many differing textures as a forest; pages that were brittle and fragile which had to be coaxed to turn; pages that were soft and scented, presenting their words as if the were a gift in the palm of a hand, and pages that fell open heavily of their own accord as if weighted by the importance of their message. But more than anything else I was compelled by their mystery, by all the stories they had yet to tell me.
'I have to go to the library, Homer. I have to be with the books.”
― Christine Aziz

“The very fabric of our world is dependent for its existence upon the subtle and varied harmonies created by all living things. In the micro cosm of nature, loss of one sound results in dissonance, which activates in us a yearning for harmony.”
― Christine Aziz, The Olive Readers

“The crowd had broken into song, not in unison, but in a medley of rhythms and melodies. They sang in many Old World tongues, and clapped and drummed. They played on homemade instruments previously proscribed, and clicked their tongues and whistled. These were secret songs, learned from illegal sources, or composed and played in dark, hidden places. These were songs they had been prepared to die for.”
― Christine Aziz, The Olive Readers

“You spoilt, pathetic bitch. I'm not going to be there for you any more, Hephzibah, not in the way you want me to be. Do you understand that? Whatever is given to you is never enough. You want to take away bigger and bigger pieces of me until there's nothing left. You do that to everyone. You wanted to keep me here, like a prisoner, a slave, didn't you? But you can't. It's over.”
― Christine Aziz, The Olive Readers

“When you love someone who is selfish and you want to stay close to them, you always end up trying to please them and that determines how you spend much of your day - even your life.”
― Christine Aziz, The Olive Readers