13 Quotes by Saleem Haddad

Digging through my roots to understand the way my branches grew.

I was finished with assuming the best intentions of those who abandoned me, done trying to assuage my loneliness in barren places.

Oh, I loathe weddings. I loathe sitting down and participating in inane conversations with proud parents and smug couples who all look like they might secretly hate each other.

... I fell in love with him even more, because I realized I was not just falling in love with Taymour but also with generations of him that connect through history, traits that had been passed down from one generation to the next. I was in love with his ancestry that stretched out for centuries.

But in the midst of this decaying, burning city, there are pockets of hope. It can be found in the tiny dark rooms in underground bars, where women with short hair cheer on men in dresses. It can be felt in abandoned cinemas where anonymous strangers fall in love if only for a few moments, and in the living rooms where families crowd around, drinking sweet black tea and Skyping their homesick relatives so that together they can watch the long, rambling talk shows that go on all night.

There is no such thing as forcing someone to be free. My obligation is not to my love for him but rather to what this love represents. My obligation is only to myself. Like two parallel lines running alongside each other, Taymour and I could only ever come together if one of us were to break.

We all tell lies to protect our solitude. We deny the truth and present a false image of ourselves to blend into society.

After all, aren’t housekeepers the bearers of all family secrets

You know people say the opposite of fear is desire, where we presumably run away from what we fear and toward what we desire. But fear and desire are more complicated than that. There’s fear at the heart of every desire and desire at the heart of fear. So I wonder, by desiring Taymour, what exactly are you afraid of?