Nada Elwatidy

“Thank you,’ I answered, unsure of the proper American response to her gracious enthusiasm. In the Arab world, gratitude is a language unto itself. “May Allah bless the hands that give me this gift”; “Beauty is in the eyes that find me pretty”; “May Allah never deny your prayer”; and so on, an infinite string of prayerful appreciation. Coming from such a culture, I have always found a mere “thank you” an insufficient expression that makes my voice sound miserly and ungrateful.” (169).”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“It is the kind of love you can know only if you have felt the intense
hunger that makes your body eat itself at night. The kind you know
only after life shields you from falling bombs or bullets passing through
your body. It is the love that dives naked toward infinity’s reach. I think
it is where God lives.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“We come from the land, give our love and labor to her, and she nurtures us in return. When we die, we return to the land. In a way, she owns us. Palestine owns us and we belong to her”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“To be rejected by someone doesn't mean you should also reject yourself or that you should think of yourself as a lesser person. It doesn't mean that nobody will ever love you anymore. Remember that only ONE person has rejected you at the moment, and it only hurt so much because to you, that person's opinion symbolized the opinion of the whole world, of God.”
― Jocelyn Soriano, Mend My Broken Heart