Mahmoud Sabry

“Those East Coast rich kids are a different breed, on a fast track to nowhere. Your friends in Seattle are downright Canadian in their niceness. None of you has a cell phone. The girls wear hoodies and big cotton underpants and walk around with tangled hair and smiling, adorned backpacks. Do you know how absolutely exotic it is that you haven’t been corrupted by fashion and pop culture? A month ago I mentioned Ben Stiller, and do you remember how you responded? ‘Who’s that?’ I loved you all over again.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

“I can feel the irrationality and anxiety draining my store of energy like a battery-operated racecar grinding away in the corner. This is the energy I will need to get through the next day. But I just lie in bed and watch it burn, and with it any hope for a productive tomorrow. There go the dishes, there goes the grocery store, there goes exercise, there goes bringing in the garbage cans. There goes basic human kindness.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

“ولقدْ خلوتُ معَ الحبيبِ وبيننا سِرٌّ أرَقّ مِنَ النّسيمِ، إذا سرَى
وأباحَ طرفي نظرة ً أمَّلتهـــا فغدوتُ معروفاً وكنتُ منكَّراً
فدهشتُ بينَ جمالهِ وجـلالهِ وغدا لسانُ الحالِ عني مخبراً
فأدِرْ لِحاظَكَ في مَحاسِن وَجْهِهِ، تَلْقَى جَميعَ الحُسْنِ، فيهِ، مُصَوَّرا
لوْ أنّ كُلّ الحُسْنِ يكمُلُ صُورَة ً، ورآهُ كانَ مهلَّلاً ومكبَّراً”
― ابن الفارض

“I felt so full of love for everything. But at the same time, I felt so hung out to dry there, like nobody could ever understand. I felt so alone in this world, and so loved at the same time.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette