But what is the point of buying vegetables in plastic bags? Everything from the supermarket smells of plastic. Everything from the market smells like it’s supposed to.

There is no denying it, our past stinks and seeps into our present. Occasionally I get such a potent whiff of history that my mind spins and my stomach lurches.

Your mother wasn’t upset. “Scars stay with you so you don’t forget, ” she said. She seemed almost satisfied.

I struggle to discover what these silent sons of mine want, but words have always failed me. They are sullen even as they tell me they are okay. I know they are lying but there is nothing I can do.

The first sound a child hears is very important. It determines character. A Muslim child always hears the Azan first. Words in praise of God. Words to live by.

Difficulties were fires. If you kept them in check, you could learn from them. You simply had to know how to fan them the right way.

They want me to contain the raging fires within me. They need me to appreciate glowing embers, to understand that even weak flames need to be managed with a lot of careful planning.

Then if children make so much trouble, why do people have 'em?

There are angels in nature walking amongst the trees and whispering the secret language of sacred things.

That there is a Devil, is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil.

I just worry about myself. I'm just gonna be me and do me. If people appreciate it, cool. If not, I'm gonna still be me.

The flower in the vase smiles, but no longer laughs.

Of how many women might the history be comprised in those few words - 'she lived, suffered, and was buried'!

The very condition of Woman is so subject to Hazard, so complex, and so grievous, that to place her at one moment is but to displace her at the next.

I think one of the reasons our court system wants to remove The 10 Commandments is because The 10 Commandments reminds us we are sinners.

You only live once, life is really short.. don't let anything minuscule like that keep you down. Keep your head up.

All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen.