“Peeling an eggplant was like unveiling an ivory-skinned woman dressed all in black.”

“Juma: I'm not a woman--I don't know HOW to cook!Khadra: Well, it didn't come with my BOOBS!”

“...Her eyes sparkle like she's about to cartwheel through a mosque.”

“Generally speaking, Americans cussed, smoke, and drank, and the Shamys had it on good authority that a fair number of them used drugs. Americans dated and fornicated and committed adultery. They had broken families and lots of divorces. Americans were not generous or hospitable like Uncle Abdulla and Aunt Fatma; they invited people to their houses only a few at a times, and didn't even let them bring their children, and only fed them little tiny portions of food they called courses on big empty plates they called good china. Plus, Americans ate out wastefully often...Americans believed the individual was more important than the family, and money was more important than anything. Khadra's dad said Americans threw out their sons and daughters when they turned eighteen unless they could pay rent--to their own parents! And, at the other end, they threw their parents into nursing homes when they got old. This, although they took slavish care of mere dogs. All in all, Americans led shallow, wasteful, materialistic lives.”

“All women speak two languages:
the language of men
and the language of silent suffering.
 Some women speak a third,
the language of queens.”

“You do not know your own beauty, you struggle in grief, but I, I have seen it all, and I know: You yourself are the secret essence.”

“One time her father told her Shakespeare was really an Arab. 'Just look at his name: It's an Anglicization of Sheikh Zubayr,' he said with a straight face.”