Marriage can wait, education cannot.

Behind every trial and sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason.

I will follow you to the ends of the world.

I’m all you have in this world Mariam, and when I’m gone you’ll have nothing. You ARE nothing!

She thought of Aziza's stutter, and of what Aziza had said earlier about fractures and powerful collisions deep down and how sometimes all we see on the surface is a slight tremor.

Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.

A society has no chance of success if it's women are uneducated.

You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you just have to see and feel.

She remembered all too well how time had dragged without him, how she had shuffled about feeling waylaid, out of balance. How she could ever cope with his permanent absence?

You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But they are things that, well, you just have to see and feel. p.147

And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.

Birthing is never easy or without pain, be it a universe, a child, or a fresh start in life. Contraction precedes expansion. Darkness comes before dawn. Joy follows pain. This is the way of things.

Equal opportunity is good but special privilege even better.

Tis by no means the least of life's rules: To let things alone.

the old ploy of the powerful: never refuse when you can confuse. Distraction and delay are always better than obstruction.

Man is a thinking animal, a talking animal, a toolmaking animal, a building animal, a political animal, a fantasizing animal. But, in the twilight of a civilization he is chiefly a taxpaying animal.

If a young aspirant had a modicum of skill and a busy typewriter she or he would sooner or later get a foothold in one of the magazines and a leaping start on the ladder upward.

If I'd gone straight to the NBA, I don't think I would have been ready as a player or a person.

I came into the world either too early or too late; at present, I am good for nothing.

The most important experiences a man can have are those that take him to the very limit; that is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage.

I loved the Godfather. I thought that was the best interpretation of our life that Ive ever seen. Godfather I and Godfather II - the other one stunk.