“I thought there were limits to human suffering. At Bir-Jdid, I was to discover that there were none”

“I have lost years that I will never get back. Only now am I just beginning to live, on the verge of old age. It is painful and unfair. But today I have a different attitude to life: it can't be constructed from superficial things, no matter how attractive they may appear. Neither wealth not appearances have any importance now.Pain gave me new life. It took a long time for me to die as Malika, General Oufkir's eldest daughter, the child of a powerful figure, of a past. I've gained an identity. My own identity. And that is priceless.If there had not been all that waste, all that horror...I'd almost venture to say that my suffering made me grow. In any case, it changed me. for the better. It's as well to make the best of things.”

“Each day is a miracle that intoxicates me. I want more. I greet every morning like a new pleasure. And yet I am keenly aware of all life's artifices. Getting dressed, wearing make-up, laughing, having fun-isn't all that just playing a role? Am I not more profound, carrying the burden of those twenty years when I 'wasn't alive', than all those who rushed around in vain during that time?”

“الأخوة عاطفة وإحساس وليست فقط عاماً وخبراً”

“it will be miraculous, very miraculous.”

“لا يُمكن تصوّر عدد الأفكار التي تُراود ذهن المرء حينما يُحرَم مِن كُل شيء. إنّهُ أمرٌ مُدهش! أعتقد أنّ البشرية ارتقت بهذه الطريقة، فحينما يَعدَم الإنسان كُل شيء، تبقى لهُ المخيّلة.”

“Elle le regarda enfourcher son vélo et filer vers le carrefour. Elle pensa mon Dieu il faut que je le rappelle. Vite. Puis elle pensa s'il croit que je vais le supplier! Puis oh mon Dieu si ça se trouve c'est la dernière fois que je le vois! - Salut, murmura-t-elle. Le vélo avait disparu depuis une bonne minute.”