In the end, the world always wins. That's just the way of things.

I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.

Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly.

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

She lived in fear of his shifting moods, his volatile temperament, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks, and sometimes try to make amends for with polluted apologies, and sometimes not.

There was so much goodness in my life. So much happiness. I wondered whether I deserved any of it.

The rope that pulls you from the flood can become a noose around your neck.