Theo

“Finally a soldier marched in and, holding his right hand to his chest, said, "Salaam aleikum. Chetor hastid? Jan-e-shoma jur ast? Khub hastid? Sahat-e-shoma khub ast? Be khair hastid? Jur hastid? Khane kheirat ast? Zinde bashi."

Which in Dari, the Afghan dialect of Persian, means, "Peace be with you. How are you? Is your soul healthy? Are you well? Are you well? Are you healthy? Are you fine? Is your household flourishing? Long life to you." Or: "Hello.”
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

“As a means of alleviating poverty, Christian charity was worse than useless, as could be seen in the Papal states, which abounded in it. But it was popular not only among the traditionalist rich, who cherished it as a safeguard against the evil of equal rights... but also among the traditionalist poor, who were profoundly convinced that they had a right to crumbs from the rich man's table.”
― Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789–1848

“Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”
― Zadie Smith, White Teeth

“And the world had its first secular myth. Older readers or those in old-fashioned countries will know the Napoleonic myth as it existed throughout the century when no middleclass cabinet was complete without his bust, and pamphleteering wits could argue, even for a joke, that he was not a man but a sun-god.”
― Eric J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789–1848