“Hearts are like stones on an ocean beach...And people are like the tides that leave permanent marks on them.”

“All emotion receded, pulled out like low tide, leaving my brain an empty ocean bottom”

“She would never leave her mark on Mammy's heart the way her brothers had, because Mammy's heart was like a pallid beach where Laila's footprints would forever wash away beneath the waves of sorrow that swelled and crashed, swelled and crashed. ”

“Tides are like politics. They come and go with a great deal of fuss and noise, but inevitably they leave the beach just as they found it. On those few occasions when major change does occur, it is rarely a good news.”

“My day is done, and I am like a boat drawn on the beach, listening to the dance-music of the tide in the evening.”

“Walking on the beach like a ventriloquist, I’ll make it sound like the ocean is calling out to you—through a conch shell.”