Akif Kichloo Quotes

“So often we confuse mistakes for soul mates, lessons for
lovers, and at the same time worthy life partners for one-night stands.

It’s an epidemic.”
― Akif Kichloo, The Feeling May Remain

“The universe on your skin is empty
from all the silence on your tongue.
Forgive yourself. Let your body heal
from all the wounds you did not inflict
on yourself. Drop the sword you carry
on your shoulder for self-defense.
Lower the armor you hold high up
for protection. Those who harmed you
are not going to come back. Those who
have left never intended to return.”
― Akif Kichloo, The Feeling May Remain

“we were never a match;
always a marvelous misfit.”
― Akif Kichloo, The Feeling May Remain

“The tragedy of love is in its ending,
the blessing—everything else.

No love ever deserves to end.”
― Akif Kichloo, The Feeling May Remain

“When the night
comes to break my heart,
I think of you.”
― Akif Kichloo, The Feeling May Remain

“They came and they left.
You cried, but you stood your ground.
You stayed tethered to hope as well as
committed to dignified dreams
and little victories of day-to-day life.

You felt different.
Then you started to change.
Your smile returned with reticence
before completely taking over your face.

Today, you are no longer afraid to let that smile be there,
and now you understand it was not about them.
It was never about anyone else.
This was about you from the day you were born.
This was about you learning to love yourself—
not letting the inferiority of the external corrupt
the piety of the internal.

This was your personal revolution.
This was the uprising of your lifetime.

And you won.”
― Akif Kichloo, The Feeling May Remain

“People often compare
depression to drowning.

That is not even close.

Consider sitting in a dark room
scared and confused—
Choking on something you
know nothing about,
For reasons you cannot comprehend.

That is depression.

When you are drowning,
you can still flail your arms,
call for help, and try your best
to keep afloat.

In depression, you do nothing.
Absolutely nothing.”
― Akif Kichloo

“That window which connects you
to the agony of other people;
that’s your soul.
Close that window and you are soulless.
And a soulless man is vestigial.
He hears but cannot listen. He sees but cannot notice.
And everyone knows:
when eyes and ears become jobless,
We look for excuses.
We hear angels and devils speak. We confabulate.
We make up gods
and lick their feet.

—Superstitions”
― Akif Kichloo, Poems That Lose

“Find yourself. And if you don’t like what you see, re-create yourself. But first, please, find yourself.”
― Akif Kichloo