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“It’s as though he is a spoiled girl planning a party and she wants to use invitations to exert her power,” Jaafar says. “Who to include, exclude? Each moment her mood shifts and so does the invitation list. It’s ludicrous.”
― Tasneem Jamal, Where The Air Is Sweet

“What a contrast: the paleness of those buds— strung with needle and thread into a fluffy bracelet—against the darkness of that lady’s skin! And what a contrast, again: the delicacy of their perfume against the robust smell of roasting meat! It is remarkable indeed how we human beings are capable of delighting in the mating call of a flower while we are surrounded by the charred carcasses of our fellow animals—but then we are remarkable creatures. Perhaps it is in our nature to recognize subconsciously the link between mortality and procreation—between, that is to say, the finite and the infinite—and we are in fact driven by reminders of the one to seek out the other.”
― Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

“That was love, wasn't it? It wasn't just a quick drop -- it was falling, over and over again, for your person. It was falling as they became new people. It was learning how to exist with every new breath. It was uncertain and it was undeniably hard, and it wasn't something you could plan for.”
― Ashley Poston, The Seven Year Slip

“Maybe, in the end, that's all that love was - doing the hard thing. Not roses and valentines and walks on the beach, but simply being present, day after ordinary day. The extraordinary romanticism of ordinary life.”
― Thrity Umrigar, Honor