Belief means nothing without actions

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

For me, religious festivals and celebrations have become an important way to teach my children about how we can transform living with diversity from the superficial 'I eat ethnic food', to something dignified, mutually respectful and worthwhile.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

I just don't know what I'd do without a brain, Simone!" I say. "I mean, what's a person without one?

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

I'm starting to realize that being born into this social world is a little like being born into clean air. You take it in as soon as you breathe, and pretty soon you don't even realize that while you can walk around with clear lungs, other people are wearing oxygen masks just to survive.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

In a multicultural, diverse society there are countless ways in which people negotiate the everyday lived experience and reality of diversity.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

It's like one of those scenes from a feel-good Hollywood movie. Where everybody is happy and nobody's hair fizzes in the wind. Where it doesn't rain, your shoes stay comfortable all day, and everybody's jokes are funny.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

I want to be with one person in my life. I want to know that the guy I spend the rest of my life with is the first person I share something so intimate and exciting with.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

I wasn't rebellious. Other friends had far stricter parents and where there wasn't a relationship of respect and communication, they were usually the opposite; kids go to the other extreme.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

Life isn’t like the movies. People don’t change overnight. People don’t go from arrogant and self-righteous to ashamed and remorseful. They don’t suddenly give in when they’ve spent years taking out. No doesn’t magically become a Yes.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah

Most Muslim women know it is fear and curiosity that cause people to stare. They know it is ignorance and stereotypes that cause people to suppose that a piece of material covering the hair strips a woman of the ability to speak English, pursue a career, work a remote control.

— Randa Abdel-Fattah