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“Just because you’re fighting evil doesn’t mean you’re good. And just because you’re doing evil doesn’t mean you’re bad. You end up with the conclusion that there is no ultimate right or wrong. It’s all shades of gray.”
― Wendy Pearlman, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria

“What’s crucial in this whole process is that you don’t matter. You as an individual—your aspirations, your ideas about what is right—mean absolutely nothing. And that’s when you understand why people get radicalized. I completely understand why somebody would join ISIS or al-Qaeda or the Assad regime or the Kurdish groups. You are in dire need for a narrative that can justify this futility. There has to be a point. So you become radical. This suffering has to be for a reason. Otherwise it’s too painful.”
― Wendy Pearlman, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria

“Today, the word “refugee” is used in a horrible way. It’s something either to be pitied or blamed for everything. Overpopulation? It’s the refugees. Rents going up? It’s the refugees. Crime? It’s the refugees. If you label people refugees, they remain refugees for the rest of their lives.”
― Wendy Pearlman, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria

“Arabs used to produce science and algebra and now we’re famous for killing.”
― Wendy Pearlman, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria