Zia

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”
― Albert Camus

“We shouldn’t put too much trust in happiness,” I said. “It comes and goes. And when we try and take hold of it, it slips away from us. It’s like a beautiful bird sitting on our balcony rail and flying off the moment we get too close. Do you expect a bird to sit on your shoulder and sing to the pair of us the way we’d like it to? /A Time for Errors (1992)”
― Mohamed Choukri

“To tell you the truth, the world seemed full of sad people – those who slept on the uncovered stoops of shops as well as those who lived in high-rise mansions. The man who walks about on foot worries that he doesn’t have decent shoes to wear. The man who rides the automobile frets that he doesn’t have the latest model car. Every man’s complaint is valid in its own way. Every man’s wish is legitimate in its own right.”
― Saadat Hasan Manto, Naked Voices: Stories & Sketches

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet