Israa

“When a daughter loses a mother, she learns early that human relationships are temporary, that terminations are beyond her control, and her feelings of basic trust and security are shattered. The result? A sense of inner fragility and overriding vulnerability. She discovers she’s not immune to unfortunate events, and the fear of subsequent similar losses may become a defining characteristic of her personality.”
― Hope Edelman, Motherless Daughters: The Legacy of Loss

“Who you are today . . . that’s who you are. Be brave. Be amazing. Be worthy. And every single time you get the chance? Stand up in front of people. Let them see you. Speak. Be heard. Go ahead and have the dry mouth. Let your heart beat so, so fast. Watch everything move in slow motion. So what. You what? You pass out, you die, you poop? No. (And this is really the only lesson you’ll ever need to know.)”
― Shonda Rhimes, Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person

“How many people today live in a language that is not their own? Or no longer, or not yet, even know their own and know poorly the major language that they are forced to serve? This is the problem of immigrants, and especially of their children, the problem of minorities, the problem of a minor literature but also a problem for all of us: how to tear a minor literature away from its own language, allowing it to challenge the language and making it follow a sober revolutionary path? How to become a nomad and an immigrant and a gypsy in relation to one's own language? Kafka answers: steal the baby from its crib, walk the tight rope.”
― Gilles Deleuze, Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature

“تعرفينَ أنني أغارُ وأحترقُ وأشتهي وأتعذّب. تعرفينَ إنني حائرٌ وإنني غارقٌ في ألف شوكةٍ بريّة.. تعرفين.. ورغم ذلك فأنتِ، فوق ذلك كله، تُحولينني أحياناً إلى مجرد تافهٍ آخر، تصغرين ذلك النابض القاتل الذي يهزني كالقصبة، معكِ وبدونك.”
― غادة السمان, رسائل غسان كنفاني الى غادة السمان