51 Quotes by Aminatta Forna

Homesickness was an adjustment disorder, that was the long and short of it.

All liars ... lie to protect themselves, to shield their egos from the raw pain of truth.

A dread filled me, a dread unlike any I had ever felt. Not the terror of God, or his angels, but the sickly fear of man.

A life, a history, whole patterns of existence altered, simply by doing nothing. The silent lie. The act of omission.

What the best novels and novelists do is to offer a different way of seeing.

Adrian's tone suggested that the desire for something was all it took. They all live with endless possibilities, leave their homes for the sake of something new. But the dream is woven from the fabric of freedom. For desire to exist it requires the element of possibility, and that for Kai has never existed, until now...

The artist Paul Klee described drawing a picture as taking a line for a walk. I have borrowed his words to explain my approach to writing; when I write a novel it is like I am taking a thought for a walk.

I learned about women -- how we are made into the women we've become, how we shape ourselves, how we shape each other.

My name is Attila.’ ah-til-ha.‘That’s an unusual name,’ Jean said.‘to whom?’ replied Attila cheerfully.‘Well . . . everyone,’ said Jean.‘not to the Hungarians or the Turks,’ said Attila.‘your parents named you after Attila the Hun?’Attila smiled. ‘Some people,’ he said, ‘name their baby girls Victoria.