13 Quotes by Aline Ohanesian

We are all sorry for something. It's what makes us human, says Seda. But sometimes empathy is not enough. Sometimes empathy needs to be followed by action.

Already the raki is drifting up from his belly, past his heart, his throat, up all the way to the top of his head, where, if he closes his eyes, he can follow its ethereal dance.

There, in the spaces between darkness and light, a sadness hangs in the air, invisible to the human eye yet heavy on the heart.

All of life, Orhan realizes, is a story within a story; how we choose to listen and which words we choose to speak makes all the difference.

Time and progress are two long-lost relatives who send an occasional letter.

Where is your Christian god now?” the turbaned assassin shouts. Lucine thinks it is a good question. Not one person answers him. Not Mairig and not the missionary. Perhaps they sense what Lucine already knows, that if God is indeed anywhere, he is not here.

Orhan fixates on the word genocide. Massacres abound in his country’s history, as they do in any nation’s history. But genocide is a different accusation altogether. Why do they insist on using that word?

Everything we do is political,” she says. “Even the things we choose not to do.

And I’m not ashamed or regretful. I spent my days loving those who mattered to me. What else is there in life?