“To be alive, it seemed to me, as I stood there in all kinds of sorrow, was to be both original and reflection, and to be dead was to be split off, to be reflection alone.”

“He, too, was in the grip of rage and rhetoric. I saw that, attractive though his side of the political spectrum was. A cancerous violence had eaten into every political idea, had taken over the ide...”

“As he drank more and more, he became inebriated, and began to fashion damaged human beings.”

“There was no starting point for the rebellion, but I could mark an arbitrary one: that a grown-up was someone who, first and foremost, could drink a Coke at whim.”

“The past, if there is such a thing, is mostly empty space, great expanses of nothing, in which significant persons and events float. Nigeria was like that for me: mostly forgotten, except for those...”

“I became aware of just how fleeting the sense of happiness was, and how flimsy its basis: a warm restaurant after having come in from the rain, the smell of food and wine, interesting conversation,...”

“And we all know love is a glass which makes even a monster appear fascinating.”

“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”

“Many things are not as they seem: The worst things in life never are.”

“Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.”

“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”

“I definitely learned a lesson this time. I know that I can be broken. I am not as tough as I thought. I see it now. At this point, it's the only thing good that came out of all of this. I know myse...”

“I have tried to let you go and I cannot. I cannot stop thinking of you. I cannot stop dreaming about you.”

“This should never have happened, Brishen. We were unimportant, you and I. We weren't supposed to mean anything to anyone.""Woman of day," he said slowly. "You mean everything to me.”

“Aku percaya, tak pernah ada kata salah untuk cinta.”