Quotes from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“Sometimes a homeland becomes a tale. We love the story because it is about our homeland and we love our homeland even more because of the story.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“There's a Palestine that dwells inside all of us, a Palestine that needs to be rescued: a free Palestine where all people regardless of color, religion, or race coexist; a Palestine where the meaning of the word "occupation" is only restricted to what the dictionary says rather than those plenty of meanings and connotations of death, destruction, pain, suffering, deprivation, isolation and restrictions that Israel has injected the word with.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“If a Palestinian bulldozer were ever invented (Haha, I know!) and I were given the chance to be in an orchard, in Haifa for instance,I would never uproot a tree an Israeli planted. No Palestinian would. To Palestinians, the tree is sacred, and so is the Land bearing it”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“All that I can tell you is that nothing can justify it, not even the most sacred ends in the world, not even peace itself, understand me?'

'Yes, Mom. Nothing can justify our scars.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“What to tell you? Gaza is frustrating these days—well, these years. It’s a good exercise in patience, at least.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“It is when darkness prevails that I sit by the window to look past all those electricity-free houses, smell the sweet scent of a calm Gazan night, feel the fresh air going straight to my heart, and think of you, of me, of Palestine, of the crack, of the blank wall, of you, of Mama, of you, of my history class, of you, of God, of Palestine—of our incomplete story.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“What is there beyond the sky?' I asked my mother.

'Paradise.'

'What does it look like?'

'Like children’s dreams.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“It took only one gunshot. His brother and the canary were silenced forever, in front of his eyes...”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“Of all the people around me, you know best that it takes two to complete a story; it always does”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“Gaza Writes Back' provides conclusive evidence that telling stories is an act of life, that telling stories is resistance, and that telling stories shapes our memories.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“The refugee card was and continues to be an insult to remind us of the little that refugees get in comparison with what they have really lost. Would a bag of flour compensate for the farmland they once had? Would a bag of sugar make up for the bitter misery those people have always felt after losing their sweet homes to dwell in refugee camps? Would the two bottles of oil make them forget their olive trees, which had been mercilessly uprooted as they themselves were? Or maybe it is simply a declaration that they are temporary refugees who once had the land which, as long as this card is still in their hands, would still be waiting for them to return. Only a shot of sharp pain brought me back to the present.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“A picture is not going to be like a stone that has been subjected to the rain and the heat and the cold and the dirt and the smell of Jerusalem. This stone is Jerusalem. It is.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“So many times, I tried to imagine how he would look like and always ended up believing he is no more than a faceless monster.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“I am, day after day, falling in love with the years that dwell in his wrinkled face and the memories of the old days which are the beats of his weak heart.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“It grew darker, and thus harder to read, as the sun peacefully, sank to bestow a new life on other people. Hamza, sinking into the darkness struggled to read the dark lines lying lifelessly before him. It dawned on him earlier that as long as we sought life, we could give it, and there always must be life close to us, closer than we imagine.”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

“I averted my eyes, looked around, and stumbled through all the faces in the room till they finally rested on his. He was standing like a scared bird, waving one wing and using the other to hide his scar. Aya Rabah- Scars”
― Refaat Alareer, quote from Gaza Writes Back (#1)

About the author

Popular quotes

“When a good man employs others he becomes a slave to the job, for the job is the guarantee for the security of many men.”
― Nevil Shute, quote from Round the Bend

“I am surrounded by people who trust me to be a respectful stranger”
― Sherman Alexie, quote from Flight

“in that hushed hour between midnight and dawn when Morpheus’ sable hands touch the rosy finger tips of Aurora and even the fairies are slumbering on their flowery couches,”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck

“Lion-hearted; her tremors braced with virtue, Philippa trotted on.”
― Dorothy Dunnett, quote from The Disorderly Knights

“Pity is such an awful, useless emotion- you have to bottle it up and keep it to yourself.The moment you try to express it, it only makes things worse.”
― Paul Auster, quote from Invisible

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.