Quotes by Yasmina Khadra

“Basically, being alive means keeping yourself ready for the sky to fall in on you at any time. If you start from the assumption that existence is only an ordeal, a test we have to pass, then youre ...”

“You can know all there is to know about life and mankind, but what do you really know about yourself?”

“Who dreams so much, forgets to live”

“Celui qui se relve de ses faux pas aura gagn l'estime des dieux. De toutes les couleurs qu'on lui en a fait voir, il construira un arc-en-ciel.”

“Her eyes were springs from which ecstasy drew water.”

“Get a grip on yourself. there's only one god here on earth, and that's you. If you don't like the world, make one you like better.”

“We've already been killed, all of us. It happened so long ago, we've forgotten it.”

“Furthermore, I refuse to wear a burqa. Of all the burdens they've put on us, that's the most degrading. The Shirt of Nessus woudn't do as much damage to my dignity as that wretched getup. It cancel...”

“Was I still myself? If so, who was I? I wasnt really interested in knowing that. It had no sort of importance for me anymore. Some moorings had broken, some taboos had fallen, and a world of spells...”

“But she was so happy in her gilded cage, wasnt she? She ate well, slept well, enjoyed herself She lacked nothing. And then, look, a bunch of mental cases turn her away from her happiness and send h...”

“...we are the whole life that we have lived, its highs and lows, its fortunes and its hardships; we are the sum of the ghosts that haunt us...”

“Whose truth do you want to know, Dr. Amin Jaafari? The truth of a Bedouin who thinks hes free and clear because hes got an Israeli passport? The truth of a serviceable Arab per excellence whos hono...”

“Of course, Im aware of the animosities destroying brain cells on both sides, and I know all about the obstinacy of the warring parties, their refusal to reach an agreement, their devotion to their ...”

“Amin, youre not making sense to me. Things have always been this way, since the beginning of time. Some die so others can be saved. You dont believe in the salvation of others?”

“Why sacrifice some for the benefit of others? Its generally the best and the bravest who choose to lay down their lives for the sake of those who hide in their holes. So why favor the sacrifice of ...”

“For a man to think he can fulfil his destiny without a woman is a misunderstanding, a miscalculation; it is reckless and folly. Certainly a woman is not everthing, but everything depends on her.”

“And yet we were very much alike; wed lost our souls, and we were ready to destroy others.”

“If you havent lost your mind yet, thats because you havent seen very much.”

“Either it falls on your head like a roof tile or it attaches itself to your insides like a tapeworm. Afterward, you no longer see the world in the same way. Youve got only one thing on your mind: t...”

“The man who let the love of his life pass him by will end up alone with his regrets and all the sighs in the world won't soothe his soul.”