“We're all born with the greatest treasures we'll ever have in life. One of those treasures is your mind, another is your heart.”

“the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.”

“Thank you, I answered, unsure of the proper American response to her gracious enthusiasm. In the Arab world, gratitude is a language unto itself. May Allah bless the hands that give me this gift; B...”

“I loved her in spite of myself. I loved her immeasurably.Infinitely. And I feared that love as much as I feared my own fury at theworld.”

“She loved beyond measure, When I was young I thought her cold. But in time I came to understand that she was too tender for the world shed been born into, I said. Sorrow gave Dalia an iron gift. Be...”

“I know she is crying. Her tears fall on the wrong side, into the bottomless well inside her.”

“God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one”

“But why, why, why can't people just say what they mean?”

“Don't be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end,...”

“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.”

“The point, I decided, wasn't to have the autobiography or even the memories. The point was who I became when I wrote.”

“The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but act...”

“The assumption that being gay or black necessarily harms the self-worth of all who fit this category has a patronizing dimension, because it neglects consideration of the agency that persons exerci...”