Sayed Kashua > Quotes

“Nor did she believe in identity, certainly not the local nationalistic version of it. She said that man was only smart if he was able to shed his identity.

"Skin color is a little hard to shed," she said, "it's true. But the DNA of your social class is even harder to get rid of.”
― Sayed Kashua, Second Person Singular

“his instructing her”
― Sayed Kashua, Second Person Singular: A Novel

“Life became much more difficult with the Intifada, and my wife and I began to regret that we hadn't rented in the Israeli half. The rent's a little high, but we would have managed with a smaller home.”
― Sayed Kashua, Dancing Arabs

“He wants to be your friend,” I said to my son, who now plucked up the courage to look the new boy in the eye.
“What language are you speaking?” the boy asked with a smile.
My son looked at me as though requesting permission to embark on a new relationship, already forgetting his former teacher, and I nodded, permitting him to take matters into his own hands.
“Arabic,” my son told the boy, smiling.
“Ichsa,” the boy said in response, and went on staring at my son for a moment before returning to his mother’s arms.
I will never forget the look that passed across my son’s face. It was a look that gave me the chills and made my hands shake as I went on drying his wet body. It was a look that passed rapidly from smile to stunned gaze, affront, and finally accusation. A look that I heard telling me, “Why did you lie to me, why didn’t you do something, it’s all your fault.”
― Sayed Kashua, Native: Dispatches from an Israeli-Palestinian Life

“The kids' rooms are not decorated. There are no pictures or posters on the doors or the walls, and that is true of all the rooms of the house in which my wife and kids live and the dorm room in which I spend most of my time. We are careful not to leave any marks, because you never know when it'll be time to get up and go.”
― Sayed Kashua, Track Changes

“aparcamiento hacia la puerta del colegio con su hija de la mano. Los coches de los judíos eran más modestos y económicos, la mayoría de fabricación japonesa o coreana. Casi todos los coches de los árabes eran alemanes, caros, tenían motores grandes y muchos accesorios, eran algo más brillantes y entre ellos había un número impresionante de todoterrenos cuatro por cuatro. Y no es que los padres de los alumnos judíos ganasen menos que los padres de los niños árabes del colegio, el abogado podía asegurar que era todo lo contrario. Pero a diferencia de los padres árabes, entre los judíos no había competitividad, ninguno de ellos sentía que debía mostrar su éxito a nadie, y menos aumentando el tamaño del motor del coche cada año. Los judíos se dedicaban a una amplia gama de sectores, ésa era al menos la impresión que tenía el abogado de los padres de los alumnos de la clase de su hija. Sabía que entre los padres había varios trabajadores del sector de la alta tecnología, un gran número de altos funcionarios del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, del Tesoro y de Justicia, algunos profesores de universidad y dos artistas.”
― Sayed Kashua, Segunda persona del singular