“He's a two-faced, cutthroat, dirt-dumb, chicken shit, slimy, little bastard with a bright future in politics.”

“No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.”

“One of them is that a bastard is always a bastard and if I can hurt a bastard by digging up shit about him, then he deserves it.”

“The big trouble with dumb bastards is that they are too dumb to believe there is such a thing as being smart.”

“They will hurt her just like they hurt you to get it, and I’m not going to let that happen, you dumb little shit.”

“Maryam closed her eyes and listened as Noruz began. 'You know that every spring, crocuses grow in the courtyard outside. They come from the dirt, green shoots from nothing. One day the flowers come purple as night, the nights when we were young. And inside the petals, saffron grows the color of blood. Then they die, and the ground is dirt again where chickens shit. That's the way of things: saffron, shit, saffron, shit.' Maryam smiled at the word in Noruz's mouth. 'I was sad and Dr. Ahlavi told me this: to remember that saffron comes from the dirt.”