53 Quotes by Leila Aboulela

I must settle for freedom in this modern time.

I wanted to be good but I wasn’t sure if I was prepared.

Perhaps we half and halfs should always make a choice, one nationality instead of the other, one language instead of the other. We should nourish one identity and starve the other so that it would atrophy and drop off. Then we could relax and become like everyone else, we could snuggle up to the majority and fit in.

As if reading his mind, Jamal-al-Din said, ‘To get what you love, you must first be patient with what you hate.

Every holiday had a perfect length and then it turned into an indulgence, time sitting heavy on idle hands, the mind free to find fault with life left behind, too much friction between people, familiarity turning to contempt. Every holiday was a threat.

Loneliness is Europe’s malaria,” Rae said. “No one can really be immune.

I wasn't trained to write non-fiction.

I read a lot of fiction.