A daughter, a wife, a grandson,' You could say this place took away all I had. I could easily appear to be one of those unfortunate white men you hear about, who thought too lovingly of the other races and civilization of the world, who left his own country in the West to set up a home among them in the East, and was ruined as a result, paying dearly for his foolish mistake. His life smashed to pieces by the barbarians surrounding him.

— Nadeem Aslam

Afghanistan had collapsed and everyone's life now lies broken at different levels within the rubble.

— Nadeem Aslam

All those who love know exactly the limit they're prepared to go to. They know exactly what is required.

— Nadeem Aslam

But whatever any of them thought one thing was always certain: even though they suffered and had to struggle at times to bring meaning and even the most basic dignity into their existence and even though in their search for justice and truthfulness they were beaten down and met with disappointment again and again—their lives were not available for use as an illustration. Theirs were not stories that could be read as an affirmation of another system.

— Nadeem Aslam

Even the air of this country has a story to tell about warfare. It is possible here to lift a piece of bread from a plate and following it back to its origins, collect a dozen stories concerning war-how it affected the hand that pulled it out of the oven, the hand that kneaded the dough, how war impinged upon the field where wheat was grown.

— Nadeem Aslam

God is just a name for our wonder.

— Nadeem Aslam

He led her back to the house, the perfume from the acacia clinging to her. The jinn was supposed to live in the scent of the acacia blossom, making themselves visible only to the young in order to entrap them in otherworldly world.

— Nadeem Aslam

How keen everyone is to make this world their home forgetting its impermanence It's like trying to see and name constellations in a fireworks display.

— Nadeem Aslam

Love was the result of having caught a glimpse of another's loneliness.

— Nadeem Aslam

Not even God can change the past.

— Nadeem Aslam