Nadiya Bhatia

“People are God’s cruelest creations. They’ll step on the smallest of backs to feel an inch taller.”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars

“I had always been my father’s spirited girl, the child who had grown up in the halls of the palace. But the absence of my family made me reconsider who I was. If it hadn’t been for my father’s outstretched arms, perhaps I never would have dared to leap from the sofa cushions. If it hadn’t been for my mother’s applause, I might not have dared to dance in our living room. I only moved as boldly through the world as I had because I knew they would catch me, no matter how far I fell.”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars

“Afghanistan’s secret weapon has always been her women. But, Boba, I’m just a girl. What a thing to say! As if a girl is made of lesser materials. Have you forgotten the words of Rumi? You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
― Nadia Hashimi, Sparks Like Stars

“Why does God do it? Why should we pray? Why believe at all?"
"Because what religion -- many religions really--offers is comfort when it's all too much. A reason for the pain. A hand in the darkness if we reach for it."
"What if it's not real? The hand? What if you reach for it, and it disappears?"
"I'm not going to tell you what's real and what isn't, that's for you to decide. But I do think that the hand is what we need it to be. Not what we want it to be.”
― Sabaa Tahir, All My Rage