126 Optimism Quotes To Inspire

In a world that often tests our resolve, embracing optimism can be a powerful antidote to negativity. Whether you're navigating personal challenges or simply looking for a little uplift in your daily routine, a few well-chosen words can reignite your inner flame. This collection of the top 126 optimism quotes is designed to inspire and empower you, serving as a reminder that a positive outlook can transform your entire life. Dive in, and let these quotes remind you that hope and positivity are always within reach.

1. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” - Oscar Wilde

2. “Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.” - Thomas Friedman

3. “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” - Nelson Mandela

4. “God surely did not create us, and cause us to live, with the sole end of wishing always to die. I believe, in my heart, we were intended to prize life and enjoy it, so long as we retain it. Existence never was originally meant to be that useless, blank, pale, slow-trailing thing it often becomes to many, and is becoming to me, among the rest.” - Charlotte Brontë

5. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

6. “I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual” - Virginia Woolf

7. “Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” - Ashley Smith

8. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” - Marcus Aurelius

9. “Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier.” - Colin Powell

10. “My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness which is not either arising from the repentance of a concrete sin and hastening towards concrete amendment or restitution, or else arising from pity and hastening to active assistance, is simply bad; and I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to 'rejoice' as much as by anything else.Humility, after the first shock, is a cheerful virtue.” - C.S. Lewis

11. “In this hour, I do not believe that any darkness will endure.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

12. “When I look at the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes!” - Oprah Winfrey

13. “No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse. (Apr 2007 Gen Conf)” - Jeffrey R. Holland

14. “The spirit of the gospel is optimistic; it trusts in God and looks on the bright side of things. The opposite or pessimistic spirit drags men down and away from God, looks on the dark side, murmurs, complains, and is slow to yield obedience.” - Orson F. Whitney

15. “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.” - Alphonse Karr

16. “But always, to her, red and green cabbages were to be jade and burgundy, chrysoprase and prophyry. Life has no weapons against a woman like that.” - Edna Ferber

17. “He caught a glimpse of that extraordinary faculty in man, that strange, altruistic, rare, and obstinate decency which will make writers or scientists maintain their truths at the risk of death. Eppur si muove, Galileo was to say; it moves all the same. They were to be in a position to burn him if he would go on with it, with his preposterous nonsense about the earth moving round the sun, but he was to continue with the sublime assertion because there was something which he valued more than himself. The Truth. To recognize and to acknowledge What Is. That was the thing which man could do, which his English could do, his beloved, his sleeping, his now defenceless English. They might be stupid, ferocious, unpolitical, almost hopeless. But here and there, oh so seldome, oh so rare, oh so glorious, there were those all the same who would face the rack, the executioner, and even utter extinction, in the cause of something greater than themselves. Truth, that strange thing, the jest of Pilate's. Many stupid young men had thought they were dying for it, and many would continue to die for it, perhaps for a thousand years. They did not have to be right about their truth, as Galileo was to be. It was enough that they, the few and martyred, should establish a greatness, a thing above the sum of all they ignorantly had.” - T.H. White

18. “It takes no more time to see the good side of life than to see the bad.” - Jimmy Buffett

19. “You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down” - Charlie Chaplin

20. “I will be the first to admit that I am a pessimist by nature. It is, after all, the wisest way to be. We pessimists have everything to gain, whereas optimists have a fifty-fifty chance of being disappointed.” - Tamar Myers

21. “We must assume every event has significance and contains a message that pertains to our questions...this especially applies to what we used to call bad things...the challenge is to find the silver lining in every event, no matter how negative.” - James Redfield

22. “We can become inspired to shape a higher, more ideal future, and when we do, miracles happen.” - James Redfield

23. “Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes'.” - Stephen Colbert

24. “My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.” - Henry Rollins

25. “We are not going to die." Butters stared up at me, pale, his eyes terrified. "We're not?" "No. And do you know why?" He shook his head. "Because Thomas is too pretty to die. And because I'm too stubborn to die." I hauled on the shirt even harder. "And most of all because tomorrow is Oktoberfest, Butters, and polka will never die.” - Jim Butcher

26. “Night always turns to day again as long as the sun shall rise, so shall it be for darkened dreams grown pale from compromise” - Tracy L. Conway

27. “What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.“My favorite day,” said Pooh.” - A.A. Milne

28. “I'm so alive.As I stand facing the beauty of the never-ending Pacific Ocean, a late afternoon breeze blows down from the hills behind. As always, it is a beautiful day. The sun is making its final descent. The magic is about to begin. The skies are ready to burn with brilliance, as it turns from a soft blue to a bright orange. Looking towards the West, I stare in awe at the hypnotic power of the waves. A giant curl begins to take form, then breaks with a thundering clap as it crashes on the shore.” - Dave Pelzer

29. “I'm no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is Yes.” - Leonard Bernstein

30. “A monkey glances up and sees a banana, and that's as far as he looks. A visionary looks up and sees the moon.” - Eoin Colfer

31. “The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision.” - William Arthur Ward

32. “One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.” - Lucille Ball

33. “Joy, not sorrow.Laughter, not tears.Life, not death.Love, not blame.” - Lisa Schroeder

34. “It is the possibility that keeps me going, and though you may call me a dreamer or a fool or any other thing, I believe that anything is possible.” - Nicholas Sparks

35. “Thou hast seen nothing yet.” - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

36. “Well, you can go on looking forward," said Gandalf. "There may be many unexpected feasts ahead of you.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

37. “What's wrong with you? I asked myself. You are a happy person. You are an upbeat sort of person. Men smile at you on the subway, women ask you what shampoo you use. Cheer up for Christ's sake, I told myself, relax, you're fine, be happy, Girl. When I talk to myself I call myself Girl.” - Jennifer Belle

38. “People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie.Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!” - Vera Nazarian

39. “Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” - Louis D. Brandeis

40. “Do not think that one has to be sad in order to be militant, even though the thing one is fighting is abominable.” - Michel Foucault

41. “Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear, and superstition. By the year 2050, when the conflict began, the world had fallen upon fearful, superstitious times.” - Bernard Beckett

42. “Dan beranikanlah dirimu membuktikan kebenaran yang kau benci!” - Bram Stoker

43. “Relax. They're not going to kill us. They're going to TRY and kill us. And that is a very different thing.” - Steve Voake

44. “Negativity is often looked upon [in the USA] as a kind of thought crime. Not since the advent of socialist realism has the world witnessed such pathological upbeatness.” - Terry Eagleton

45. “One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything's fine today, that is our illusion” - Voltaire

46. “A pessimist is a man who thinks everybody is as nasty as himself, and hates them for it.” - George Bernard Shaw

47. “Being an idealist is not being a simpleton; without idealists there would be no optimism and without optimism there would be no courage to achieve advances that so-called realists would have you believe could never come to fruition.” - Alisa Dana Steinberg

48. “If you really believed that you'd lost your soul, then when I found you in Volterra, you would have realized immediately what was happening, instead of thinking we were both dead together. But you didn't―you said 'Amazing. Carlisle was right,'" I reminded him, triumphant. "There's hope in you, after all."For once, Edward was speechless."So let's both just be hopeful, all right?" I suggested. "Not that it matters. If you stay, I don't need heaven."He got up slowly, and came to put his hand on either side of my face as he stared into my eyes. "Forever," he vowed, still a little staggered."That's all I'm asking for," I said, and stretched up on my toes so that I could press my lips to his.” - Stephenie Meyer

49. “In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning” - Carl Sandburg

50. “In the middle of the night, things well up from the past that are not always cause for rejoicing--the unsolved, the painful encounters, the mistakes, the reasons for shame or woe. But all, good or bad, give me food for thought, food to grow on.” - May Sarton

51. “there's no harm in hoping for the best as long as you're prepared for the worst.” - Stephen King

52. “I see the glass half full and thank God for what I have.” - Ana Monnar

53. “Regardless of how black the page, he had always managed to turn it and move on to a new chapter in his life.” - Robert Masello

54. “You have to open up to the world and learn optimism...Contentment with the past, happiness with the present, and hope for the future. Learned optimisim.” - Jennifer Crusie

55. “Another way to be prepared is to think negatively. Yes, I'm a great optimist. but, when trying to make a decision, I often think of the worst case scenario. I call it 'the eaten by wolves factor.' If I do something, what's the most terrible thing that could happen? Would I be eaten by wolves? One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist, is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don't worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.” - Randy Pausch

56. “I'm not much but I'm all I have.” - Philip K. Dick

57. “The “Warrior Ethos” emphasizes placing the mission first, not accepting defeat, and being disciplined physically and mentally. Why? Because an American Soldier is a “guardian of freedom and the American way of life.” - Dan Smee

58. “Just when normal life felt almost possible - when the world held some kind of order, meaning, even loveliness (the prismatic spray of light through an icicle; the stillness of a sunrise), some small thing would go awry and the veil of optimism was torn away, the barren world revealed. They learned, somehow, to wait those times out. There was no cure, no answer, no reparation.” - David Wroblewski

59. “We've got an unbeatable team."- Sauron” - Robert Lynn Asprin

60. “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” - Carl Sagan

61. “You could be the ugliest, nastiest most miserable piece of shit known to man, but if you had a beating heart there was always a chance you'd turn into a diamond after a million years.” - Conrad Williams

62. “Remember, you see in any situation what you expect to see.” - David Schwartz

63. “Things are always better in the morning.” - Harper Lee

64. “It isn't all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning.” - Gene Roddenberry

65. “We live, I suppose, in the unconfessed hope that the rules will at some point be broken, along with the normal course of things and custom and history, and that this will happen to us, that we will experience it, that we — that is, I alone — will be the ones to see it. We always aspire, I suppose, to being the chosen ones, and it is unlikely otherwise that we would be prepared to live out the entire course of an entire life, which, however short or long, gradually gets the better of us.” - Javier Marías

66. “I feel like a millionaire on the back of an armored jet-ski my samurai girlfriend who loves me is charging at a cartel speedboat to win a game of chicken. Isn’t this the day’s best part? You don’t even have to remember to enjoy it. It enjoys you into itself.” - Adam Levin

67. “The only good thing about being frightened half to death, she thought, is that it makes me forget all about being seasick.” - Alison Croggon

68. “Though nihilism has been relentlessly criticized for overemphasizing the dark side of human experience, it might be equally true that this overemphasis represents a needed counterbalance to shallow optimism and arrogant confidence in human power. Nihilism reminds us that we are not gods, and that despite all of the accomplishments and wonders of civilization, humans cannot alter the fact that they possess only a finite amount of mastery and control over their own destinies.” - John Marmysz

69. “Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.” - Joyce Carol Oates

70. “The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope.” - Robert E. Lee

71. “Every day, you get the opportunity to change your life. Change what you do not want. Change what makes you unhappy.” - Rodolfo Costa

72. “Cultivate an optimistic mind, use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible.” - Rodolfo Costa

73. “He hesitated, remembering something Finnikin had said to him on their journey. That somehow, even in the worst of times, the tiniest fragments of good survive. It was the grip in which one held those fragments that counted.” - Melina Marchetta

74. “Pessimism never won any battle.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

75. “You always look on the dark side of life. I believe in capturing the moment...Joy is so fleeting. You never know when it might be snatched away.” - Susan Wiggs

76. “Head up, heart open. To better days!” - T.F. Hodge

77. “Seeing the glass as half empty is more positive than seeing it as half full. Through such a lens the only choice is to pour more. That is righteous pessimism.” - Criss Jami

78. “Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches.” - Hyman G. Rickover

79. “When the road ahead seems impossible, start the engine” - Benny Bellamacina

80. “I consider everything that happened to be precious moments of my life.The pain.The suffering.The fun…And I am here right now, because everyone was there for me.I couldn’t have accomplished anything by standing still, without anybody’s help.I treasure every moment I have spent here.Unlucky?I feel pretty lucky.This is my resolve.”-Sawada Tsunayoshi-” - Sawada Tsunayoshi

81. “In politics, Bugs Bunny always beats Daffy Duck. Daffy's always going berserk, jumping up and down, yelling. Bugs's got that sly smile, like he always knows what's up, like nothing can ruffle him.” - Jeff Greenfield

82. “Make every misadventure an adventure.” - Alana Siegel

83. “If optimism is the highest form of courage -- as I am beginning to believe it is -- then these students are all heroes.” - Paula Huntley

84. “I like to see the glass as half full, hopefully of jack daniels.” - Darynda Jones

85. “We all have our alloted portions of black and white paint; how we lay it on is a question of temperament.” - Ewart Grogan

86. “Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” - Roger Crawford

87. “You may exist inthis world--but I exist tooand I will not yield” - Matthew Quick

88. “Write it on your heartthat every day is the best day in the year.He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the daywho allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. Finish every day and be done with it.You have done what you could.Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;begin it well and serenely, with too high a spiritto be cumbered with your old nonsense. This new day is too dear,with its hopes and invitations,to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

89. “I might walk vast expansesof earth and always be beginningand I love beginningor could learnto love it.” - S. Jane Sloat

90. “Sure my rose-colored glasses don't let me see the world for what it is NOW but what they allow is the chance to see what the world would look like if people cared enough to plant more roses” - Matthew Goldfinger

91. “Appreciate every little beautiful moment in every day of your life. Give it a try and you'll see the world from another perspective.” - Thea Kristine May

92. “A man may be a pessimistic determinist before lunch and an optimistic believer in the will's freedom after it.” - Aldous Huxley

93. “Have a smile for breakfast, you'll be shitting joy by lunch.” - Joe Abercrombie

94. “Author describes one character's optimism as, that quiet well-being which perhaps you and I have felt on a sunny afternoon when, in our brightest youth and health, life has opened a new vista for us, and long to-morrows of activity have stretched before us like a lovely plain which there was no need for hurrying to look at, because it was all our own.” - George Eliot

95. “Let me tell you something: when you dance, you are the greatest dancer who has ever lived. And when you sing, you will have the courage to raise your voice to the heavens, knowing that you may never get an answer.” - Emma Forrest

96. “Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.” - Idries Shah

97. “I still think sincere pessimism the unpardonable sin.” - G.K. Chesterton

98. “I think that one of the benefits of optimism and idealism is that they lead you into things you would never have tried if you'd let yourself imagine how hard it was going to turn out to be.” - Romeo Dallaire

99. “تشاؤمُ العقل .. تفاؤلُ الإرادة” - Antonio Gramsci

100. “Optimism: That effervescent, blindingly- bright, perky, chipper, twittering quality you want to squash out of annoying people.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

101. “Real optimism is aware of problems but recognizes the solutions, knows about difficulties, but believes they can be overcome, sees the negatives but accentuates the positives, is exposed to the worst but exceeds the best, has reason to complain but chooses to smile.” - William A Warden

102. “London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” - Dorothy Parker

103. “Live with the assumption that every day it will rain. If it does, you were right. If it doesn’t, you were fortunate.” - Zack W. Van

104. “Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself. It is earned through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping.” - Augusten Burroughs

105. “Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.” - Alain De Botton

106. “In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.” - Gordon B. Hinckley

107. “It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships.” - Alain De Botton

108. “If we define optimism broadly as the tendency to maintain a positive outlook, then realistic optimism is the tendency to maintain a positive outlook within the constraints of the available "measurable phenomena situated in the physical and social world" (DeGrandpre, 2000, p. 733). With respect to fuzzy meaning, realistic optimism involves enhancing and focusing on the favorable aspects of our experiences. Examples include being lenient in our evaluation of past events, actively appreciating the positive aspects of our current situation, and routinely emphasizing possible opportunities for the future. With respect to fuzzy knowledge, realistic optimism involves hoping, aspiring, and searching for positive experiences while acknowledging what we do not know and accepting what we cannot know.” - Sandra L. Schneider

109. “When our hopes for performance are not completely met, realistic optimism involves accepting what cannot now be changed, rather than condemning or second-guessing ourselves. Focusing on the successful aspects of performance (even when the success is modest) promotes positive affect, reduces self-doubt, and helps to maintain motivation (e.g., McFarland & Ross, 1982).... Nevertheless, realistic optimism does not include or imply expectations that things will improve on their own. Wishful thinking of this sort typically has no reliable supporting evidence. Instead, the opportunity-seeking component of realistic optimism motivates efforts to improve future performances on the basis of what has been learned from past performances.” - Sandra L. Schneider

110. “Disappointment is really just a term for our refusal to look on the bright side.” - Richelle E. Goodrich

111. “I've never been more hopeful about our future. I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. I'm not talking about the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.” - Barack Obama

112. “I wanted color. I wanted to soar with happiness even if it meant dealing with the weight of fear and guilt, too. I wanted to live.” - Heather Anastasiu

113. “Some people have inspired whole countries to great deeds because of the power of their vision. And so could he. Not because he dreams about marching hordes, or world domination, or an empire of a thousand years. Just because he thinks that everyone’s really decent underneath and would get along just fine if only they made the effort, and he believes that so strongly it burns like a flame which is bigger than he is. He’s got a dream and we’re all part of it, so that it shapes the world around him. And the weird thing is that no one wants to disappoint him. It’d be like kicking the biggest puppy in the universe. It’s a kind of magic.” - Terry Pratchett

114. “Optimists are usually inexperienced.” - Wayne Gerard Trotman

115. “What kind of woman was she? What kind of woman was it who called to me from that calamity on the Seventh Avenue line? What kind of woman do I love now, with a fealty that will not cease, not till my occluded arteries send their clots up to the spongy interiors in my skull and I go mute and slack? I love the kind of woman whose hair has gone gray in a not terribly flattering way, the kind who doesn't even notice how she has to keeps having to buy larger jeans, the kind who likes big cars because she doesn't like to be uncomfortable. I love this woman because she is gifted with astounding premonitory skills: no matter how uncertain, how despondent, how lost her mate feels, no matter how dire the circumstances, she nonetheless predicts that Everything will be roses.” - rick moody

116. “The disciplines of physical exercise, meditation and study aren't terribly esoteric. The means to attain a capability far beyond that of the so-called ordinary person are within the reach of everyone, if their desire and their will are strong enough. I have studied science, art, religion and a hundred different philosophies. Anyone could do as much. By applying what you learn and ordering your thoughts in an intelligent manner it is possible to accomplish almost anything. Possible for an 'ordinary person.' There's a notion I'd like to see buried: the ordinary person. Ridiculous. There is no ordinary person.” - Alan Moore

117. “We are gods in the chrysalis.” - Dale Carnegie

118. “I'm no optimist", she said as she opened the cabinet door. " I'm just a realist who smiles too much.” - Tiffany Reisz

119. “The Gospel worldview equips the artist with a unique combination of optimism and realism about life.” - Timothy Keller

120. “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?" "I can't remember. Which?" "Do you know what those words mean?" "Not really." "An optimist is positive and hopeful. A pessimist is negative and cynical." "I'm an optimist." "Well, that's good, because there’s no irrefutable evidence. There’s nothing that could convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced. But there is an abundance of clues that would give the wanting believer something to hold on to.” - Jonathan Safran Foer

121. “Be warned - Hammond does tend to be a bit optimistic about these kind of things. If the army were made up of one-legged mutes, he would praise their balance and their listening skills.” - Brandon Sanderson

122. “It doesn't matter if the glass is half full or half empty. I am gonna drink it through this crazy straw.” - Joey Comeau

123. “Don't live in a world of 'I never should have'. Regret is a terrible burden to carry through life. It stoops your shoulders and keeps you looking down at the ground rather than up at the stars.” - Mary Alice Kruesi

124. “I am, and always will be, the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes, and the dreamer of improbable dreams.” - Eleventh Doctor

125. “However, robust evidence shows that people systematically overestimate the probability of positive future contingencies, and underestimate the probability of negative ones — only those who are depressed or dysphoric come to accurate assessments.” - Daniel Nettle

126. “You have this ability to find beauty in weird places.” - Kamila Shamsie