Middle Eastern Quotes

“The beauty of the sea is that it never shows any weakness and never tires of the countless souls that unleash their broken voices into its secret depths.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“I feel like my life is made up of tiny puzzle parts that no longer fit together. Imagine working on a puzzle only to find that the final picture can never be complete because one of its pieces is missing. This is exactly what's happened to my life; it has become impossible to put it back together.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“I am from Lebanon, from Beirut and Saida

I am from the ground underneath my home

I am from the trees, the cedar tree

I come from Tabouleh and brown eyes, from Karim...

Kassar and Kassem

I come from happiness and culture

From "Habibi" and "Hayete"

I am from all religions

I am from the room beneath the stars.”
― Zeina Kassem, Talal Kassem

“It's as though you had lost an arm or leg but still instinctively reach out to feel your missing limb or try to walk again, placing your entire weight on something that no longer is there.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“I wish I had lost an arm or a leg. It would have been much easier than losing a part of my heart, which lives on, but now beats to a different rhythm.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“Grief is shameless; it refuses to be ignored. If you let it have its way, it becomes fatal. If you try to remove it piece by piece, it only multiplies like a tumor. And if you try to fight it, it becomes like quicksand; you try to claw your way back to the surface, and for a second you feel the fresh air against your face, thinking you've survived, only to be pulled fiercely back down again, swallowed whole, nothing left.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“Our dead become the photographs and words we hang on the walls, but they also hang on the walls of our hearts, the windows of our lips, and the sobs in our voices.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“I don't think I ever fully understood before now the old saying that goes: "A mother's heart loves her young one until he grows; her ill one until he heals; and her traveler until he returns."

I have experienced all kinds of waiting; I've waited for my young to grow and the sick to heal, but I am still waiting on my little traveler and I do not know how long it will be until I see him again.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“That's when it hit me; my sunglasses were buried in the grave where my Talal lay.

Yes, my sunglasses were buried with him. But oh, how I wish my eyes had gone with him instead.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“Arab' is the new four-letter word, didn't you know?”
― Anissa Rafeh, Beirut to the 'burbs

“I watched life and death unfold like a dance on the side of that road. My son was born with a bloodstained face and he died with blood from the accident covering that same face.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“From cradle to grave, Talal sprinted through life.

I never did see a life extinguished so abruptly.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“Do our dreams carry messages from the great beyond, sent by the people we have lost, or are they a reflection of our desperation and wishful thinking?”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“As many stars as there are in the sky, that is how many breaths I will love you for.”
― Rania Hanna, The Jinn Daughter

“If you do finish the book and are still scared of me and people of my ilk, then I recommend you schedule an appointment with a therapist. Either that, or try writing your own book”
― Maz Jobrani, I'm Not a Terrorist, But I've Played One On TV: Memoirs of a Middle Eastern Funny Man

“I could only liken it to the strength of a wheat stalk, which when struck by a storm, bends to the ground, but does not break. This stalk of wheat stands tall like a spear in a tempest, clinging to the earth where its roots are embedded deep, embracing the sun from which it draws life.”
― Zeina Kassem, Crossing

“It's as though you had lost an arm or leg but still instinctively reach out to feel your missing limb or try to walk again, placing your entire weight on something that is no longer is there.”
― Zeina Kassem

“I served breakfast in the bedroom.
Porridge. Upma. Papaya.
Orange-pomegranate juice.
Toast with unsalted cheese.”
― Jaspreet Singh, Chef

“Should you hear a war is started somewhere, it is the war itself make you upset. Shoud I hear, it is a reminder of how I was born, grew up as orphan, not all allowed to be in school nor in my home, and all miraculously hiding myself from every morning's and night's soldiers' fight. I am a middeleastern.”
― Mostafa Sarabzadeh

“Stella daydreamed about Continental delicatessen stores and the scent of ripe tomatoes. She and Michael had liked to go to Covent Garden and Billingsgate together, to Fortnum & Mason, and to the little foreign grocers' shops around Golders Green, Soho and Camden Town. She'd loved to see the sacks of pistachio nuts and the jars of crystallized ginger, the bottles of orange-flower water and distillations of rose petals, suggestive of the flavors of dishes from The Arabian Nights, the barrels of pickled herrings and the sides of salt beef. Together they enjoyed talking about what they might do with the star anise and the brined green peppercorns, the tarragon vinegar and the bottled bilberries. People had sometimes given Stella questioning looks when she took her sketchpad to the markets, but there was a pleasure in trying to capture the textures of the piled oranges and peaches and the glimmer of mackerel scales.”
― Caroline Scott, Good Taste

“The dead have been dropping all night.”
― Rania Hanna, The Jinn Daughter

“A woman stands with scissors in her hands, clipping at plants and branches. I notice pockmarked areas of her skin, as if small fruit, like berries, were plucked right from her flesh.”
― Rania Hanna, The Jinn Daughter

“What is love? The more you try to understand it, the less you will understand.”
― Adil Alzarooni, The Red Island: The Gatekeeper