When some people meet with a private or public catastrophe, the foundations of their faith are sometimes shaken, causing the pillars of their beliefs… - Fadwa Tuqan

Everywhere, people show a face that is new, but at the same time basically the same. People are a mass of feelings, inclinations and ambitions, fluctuating between triumphs and defeats, despair and hope. Each is created from the same material, with the same innate nature, descended from one human family tree. (p180)

Anyone who has experienced disastrous friendships and endured treachery from friends, values a friendship that develops on the basis of trust, honesty and confidence. Reservation, apprehension and wariness do not breed true friendship. (p182)

In school I was able to discover some parts of my lost self. There I established myself as a person, something I had not been able to do at home. (p45)