A Thousand Splendid Suns

"I will choose my own path, even if it leads to ruin."

"The Taliban had forbidden music, but music lived in her heart."

"She realized that forgiveness was not about the other person."

"A wife who doesn't obey deserves to be punished."

"There is no shame in what has happened to you."

"She understood then what Noor had said about the weight of secrets."

"The war had taken everything from her except her dignity."

"She found that she was capable of love in ways she never thought possible."

"I will not be married off like a piece of furniture."

"Women like you should be drowned at birth."

"He had not beaten her badly today, which meant she was grateful."

"There was a time when I was like you—idealistic, full of hope."

"She hated being hungry. It made her feel small and helpless."

"A man is the needle and the thread."

"He was a Taliban now. He belonged to the Taliban, not to her anymore."

"What's the use of education if it brings unhappiness?"

"She understood that she'd made a terrible mistake."

"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet."

"She felt that she had been a good wife to him, that she had earned a reprieve."

"It had occurred to her that he wasn't wicked, not really. He was just a man."

"You think you know how this will all end, Mariam? You think you'll die for your children?"

"Every time someone dies, a library burns."

"Books are like water in the desert."

"I deserve better than this life."

"A man has only to sneeze, and his wife jumps."

"Do you know what happens when you let yourself get attached to someone?"

"There is no honor in stoning a woman to death for adultery."

"I'm going to wear whatever I want."

"It always came back to this. All the other things—the ministering to Jalil's wives, the rules of custom, decorum—they were just dressing."

"Suffering can crush you, or it can refine you. It's a matter of what you do with it."