Baher Ali > Baher's Quotes

“words, you see," he said, looking at me again, "allow us to make permanent what is essentially transient.Turn a world filled with injustice and hurt into a place that is beautiful and lyrical.”
― Vaddey Ratner, In the Shadow of the Banyan

“This is to assuage our conscience, darling" she would explain to Blanca. "But it doesn't help the poor. They don't need charity; they need justice.”
― Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits

“We only have what we give.”
― Isabel Allende

“The source of my difficulties has always been the same: an inability to accept what to others seems natural, and an irresistible tendency to voice opinions no one wants to hear . . .”
― Isabel Allende

“There’s so much pain everywhere, and we just close our eyes to it. The truth is we’re all scared. We’re terrified of each other.”
― Alex Michaelides, The Silent Patient

“If you want to support others you have to stay upright yourself.”
― Peter Hoeg

“Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember – if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.
Disappointment’ s cousin is Frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life – friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.”
― Chetan Bhagat

“LIFE IS TOUGH WHEN YOU ARE ALWAYS TALKING TO PEOPLE SMARTER THAN YOU...”
― Chetan Bhagat, The 3 Mistakes of My Life

“aku belajar menaruh hormat kepada orang yang menegakkan martabatnya dengan cara membuktikan dirinya sendiri, bukan dengan membangun fikiran negatif tentang orang lain.”
― Andrea Hirata, Cinta di Dalam Gelas

“Wanting just leads to more wanting. There’s no end to desire.”
― Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.”
― Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

“What happens when people open their hearts?"
"They get better.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“غالبًا ما يتحاشى الناس في بداية علاقةٍ ما الأسئلة المحرجة لأنهم يخشون أن يحطموا ذلك البناء الهش الذي أقاموه لتوّهم ملتزمين ألف احتياط.”
― أمين معلوف

“إن جميع شعوب الأرض في مهب العاصفة بشكل أو بآخر. سواء كنا أغنياء أو فقراء, مستكبرين أو خاضعين, محتلين او تحت الاحتلال, فنحن جميعا على متن زورق متصدع, سائرين الى الغرق معا. لكننا مع ذلك لا نكف عن تبادل الشتائم والمشاحنة غير آبهين بتعاظم أمواج البحر”
― Amin Maalouf, Le Dérèglement du monde: Quand nos civilisations s'épuisent

“let us thank God for having made us this gift of death, so that life is to have meaning; of night, that day is to have meaning; silence, that speech is to have meaning; illness, that health is to have meaning; war, that peace is to have meaning. Let us give thanks to Him for having given us weariness and pain, so that rest and joy are to have meaning. Let us give thanks to him, whose wisdom is infinite.”
― Amin Maalouf, Leo Africanus

“في كل طائفة عصاة يُلعَنون في العلن ويُدعَى لهم في السر.”
― Amin Maalouf, Leo Africanus

“...What happens is of little significance compared with the stories we tell ourselves about what happens. Events matter little, only stories of events affect us.”
― Rabih Alameddine, The Hakawati

“No loss is felt more keenly than the loss of what might have been. No nostalgia hurts as much as nostalgia for things that never existed.”
― Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman

“I Deserve It.
I'd rather be disappointed by the truth than satisfied with a lie. Respect me, not because I respect you, but because I deserve your respect. How pleased would you be if you found out I respected you only because I wanted you to respect me back or because I wanted something in return? I respect you because you deserve it. Don't listen to me just because I listen to you. I listen to you because you deserve to be heard. Don't be nice to me just because I'm nice to you. I'm nice to you because you deserve to be treated right. Don't show me that you care just because you know I care. I care for you because your heart needs care. If your thoughts and feelings are not genuine, point them in a direction other than mine. If I only give you what you deserve, at least keep me away from what I don't deserve.”
― Najwa Zebian

“So why was I so scared? Because crime is something relative; it's something the government defines and redefines whenever it pleases.”
― Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Guantánamo Diary

“You need the ocean for this: to stop believing in reality. To ask yourself impossible questions. To not know. To cease knowing. To become intoxicated by the smell. To close your eyes. To stop believing in reality.”
― Cristina Rivera Garza, The Iliac Crest

“I had stopped asking what really happened in order to explore the foundation of reality itself. I was in pursuit of something new, something that, in one way or another, would change the way I experienced the ocean.”
― Cristina Rivera Garza, The Iliac Crest

“Todo fracaso comienza con la luz, con el deseo de atrapar la luz para siempre.”
― Cristina Rivera Garza, Nadie me verá llorar

“La finalidad de la vida no es prosperar sino transformarse. Cuando uno se lanza a lo desconocido se salva.”
― Elena Poniatowska, Leonora

“ردّد في سرِّك إن الصمت مريحٌ لك وللآخرين ، وبخاصةً الآخرين .”
― الطاهر بن جلون, تلك العتمة الباهرة

“One must live as if it would be forever, and as if one might die each moment. Always both at once.”
― Mary Renault, The Persian Boy

“Never underestimate how extraordinarily difficult it is to understand a situation from another person's point of view.”
― Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries

“Reason is no match for desire: when desire is purely and powerfully felt, it becomes a kind of reason of its own.”
― Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries

“If home can't be where you come from, then home is what you make of where you go.”
― Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries