Aisha Saeed > Quotes

“My mother always says when you fight destiny, destiny fights back. Some things, they're just written in the stars. You can try but you can never escape what's meant to be.”
― Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

“If everyone decided nothing could change, nothing ever would.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“You always have a choice. Making choices even when they scare you because you know it's the right thing to do - that's bravery.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“Love is about the good moments, but it's about holding on to each other during the difficult ones, too. Coming out on the other side, weathered but still holding hands, isn't easy. It's the most difficult thing there can possibly be, but I know now it's the truest test of love there is.”
― Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

“Life is full of sadness. It's part of being a woman. Our lives are lived for the sake of others. Our happiness is never factored in. Do I want this life? Living here and seeing my husband a few times a year, raising my daughter alone? I don't know what it was like in America, but this is how life is. This is reality. But this advice is coming too late. It's meaningless now.”
― Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

“Some things, once lost, are irretrievably gone.”
― Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

“Change, no matter how good and necessary, comes with a price.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“But the thing was—those books were what made my days bearable. They were what helped me sleep at night without my homesickness choking me. Without books, what was there to look forward to?”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“Sometimes I wish I did not pay such careful attention. Maybe then I would not have learned that they thought being a girl was such a bad thing.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“I will never understand why adults find the passing of time to be so unexpected. Time is literally what life is made of. But it’s like a ritual; each time my mom chats with a friend or family member she hasn’t seen in a while, they spend half the time talking about how fast time goes, and the other half promising to see each other soon, which they almost never do.”
― Aisha Saeed, Yes No Maybe So

“It turned out he wasn't just a poet. He was also a politician, a teacher, a lawyer, a scholar, and a knight. I thought one dream was enough for a person, but reading his story, I learned some people could hold on to many different dreams and see them all come true.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“Sad.” She lets out a bitter laugh. “Life is full of sadness. It’s part of being a woman. Our lives are lived for the sake of others. Our happiness is never factored in. Do I want this life? Living here and seeing my husband a few times a year, raising my daughter alone? I don’t know what it was like for you in America, but this is how life is. This is reality. But this advice is coming too late. It’s meaningless now.”
― Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

“The prince always said I belonged to him. I had thought this word protected me and kept me safe, but now I understood. Belonging meant he could place me wherever he liked, whether in his bed or in this dank tower. Belonging is not love. It never was.”
― Aisha Saeed, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings

“Until now I didn't realize how memories clumped together. Remembering one unlocked another and then another until you were drowning in a tidal wave threatening to sweep you away.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“But the thing was - those books were what made my days bearable. They were what helped me sleep at night without my homesickness choking me. Without books, what was there to look forward to?”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“We cannot expect to be taken seriously if we don't show our teachers the respect they deserve. Part of respect is arriving where expected on time.”
― Aisha Saeed, Omar Rising

“If everyone decided nothing would change, nothing ever would.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“My mother always said the best way to feel better was to do something, anything. And she was right; making myself useful had always helped.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“The thing is- those books made my days bearable.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“Regret, I was learning, was the sharpest knife there was.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“Time is literally what life is made of.”
― Aisha Saeed, Yes No Maybe So

“Love is about the good moments, but it's about holding on to each other during the difficult ones, too.”
― Aisha Saeed, Written in the Stars

“I kiss him instead.”
― Aisha Saeed, Yes No Maybe So

“Making choices even when they scare you because you know it's the right thing to do - that's bravery.”
― Aisha Saeed, Amal Unbound

“Only shells collected from the sea could be crafted into necklaces to soothe anxious hearts. Every day, people crossed the threshold of their home. They settled into the nook of the guest room. They wept onto carefully curated shells, which would later be sanded and shaped into stars and worn as necklaces to soothe their suffering. There was an alchemy between the sea and the shells that her family had melded. Before her mother, the work had been her grandmother's. Before that, her grandmother's mother. Eight generations of Khanani women winding their way down to--- one day--- Yas.
She'd once eagerly painted each star before it left their home. Delicate birds. Flowers. Yas had loved the work. The art of catching and cutting and sanding and smoothing.”
― Aisha Saeed, Forty Words for Love

“Five full days of the festival remained, and she couldn’t wait to see everything the week would bring.”
― Aisha Saeed, Diana and the Island of No Return

“Diana, princess of the Amazons, was going to save the world.”
― Aisha Saeed, Diana and the Underworld Odyssey

“No matter what, though, the wedding isn’t the most important thing, it’s the marriage. Who you’re marrying matters more than where you get married.”
― Aisha Saeed, The Matchmaker

“hunted”
― Aisha Saeed, Diana and the Island of No Return

“When you’re as unhappy as she is, it seeps out toward other people.”
― Aisha Saeed, The Matchmaker