Malala Yousafzai · 240 pages
Rating: (12.6K votes)
“What a strange world it was when a girl who wanted to go to school had to defy militants with machine guns - as well as her own family.”
“Perhaps that's because I do not remember a thing about the shooting. Not a single thing. The doctors and nurses offered complicated explanations for why I didn't recall the attack. They said the brain protects us from memories that are too painful to remember. Or, they said, my brain might have shut down as soon as I was injured. I love science, and I love nothing more than asking question upon question to figure out the way things work. But I don't need science to figure out why I don't remember the attack. I know why: God is kind to me.”
“If you help someone in need you might also receive unexpected aid.”
“I might have been calm, but my dear father was near tears. 'Are you all right, jani?' he said. 'Aba,' I said, trying to reassure him. 'Everybody knows they will die someday. No one can stop death. It doesn't matter if it comes from a Talib or from cancer.”
“I would run to rejoin the children. Especially when it was time for the kite-flying contests- where the boys would skilfully try to cut down their competitors' kite strings. It plunges. It was beautiful, and also a bit melancholy for me to see the pretty kites sputter to the ground.
Maybe it was because I could see a future that would be cut down just like those kites- simply because I was a girl.”
“As I watched my brothers run up to the roof to launch their kites, I wondered how free I could ever really be.”
“I had grown up hearing the word terrorism, but I never really understood what it meant. Until now. Terrorism is different from war-where soldiers face one another in battle. Terrorism is fear all around you. It is going to sleep at night and not knowing what horrors the next day will bring.”
“Eve talking to someone on her computer and having trouble with the language translator.
...."I have two like crimes. Your data and your input on Leclerk would be very helpful"
Marie pursed her lips and humor danced in her eyes.
"It says you would like to have sex with me. I don't think that is correct"
"Oh, for Christ sake" Eve slammed a fist against the machine.....”
“The Book put forth the theory that what a person envisions is what a person attracts, so that if you envision loss, despair, loneliness, etc., that is indeed what will befall you. The Book also claimed that all of us lie to ourselves all the time, so why not tell positive lies—known as “affirmations”—instead of negative ones?”
“And then I picked up the nearest object-a shoe-and threw it at Jack's head.
"What are you doing in here, you little weasle?"
He picked up my shoe from where it had clattered to the floor after hitting the door behind him. "How do you walk in these heels?" He sat and removed his own shoe,trying to jam his foot into my purple sling-back.
I stalked over and yanked it awway. "What are you, five? Answer my question."
He looked up at me, impossibly big blue eyes wide with innocence. "I thought we were friends, after you made me strip and all."
"I'm calling Raquel."
"Fine,fine. I was just doing some reconnaissance?"
"Reconnaissance?"
"Oh,sorry,that's a big word,isn't it? It means I was scoping the scene, getting the-"
"I know what it means! What,is IPCA investigating me now? Screw them, they can forget about any help from-"
"Do you ever let anyone else finish a sentence?" He smiled at my glare, flashing his dimples. "That's more like it. You're much prettier when you aren't talking. True of most people, I've found. Anyhow, I needed to see the address Raquel gave me so that I could find it again.”
“Cyrus is quiet for a momenr. "But-" he beginds, then falls silent. It's the first crack I've seen in his composure. "But," he tries again, "she's special. To me."
His words make me feel light, like ash floating away from a fire.
Johann begins to laugh, bitterly, mirthlessly. "Don't tell me you love her," he spits. "You don't even know her. That's the most irrational thing I've ever heard. And no love can survive immortality."
The room is quiet, filled only with the crackling of the fire, and suddenly I don't want to hear Cyrus's answer. What if he doesn't love me? What am I without him by my side? Some strange creature that no one believes exists, some freak of nature, some threat to the reassuring rhythms of normal life.
Finally, Cyrus speaks. "All I know is that I'm drawn to her. You always told me there's no such thing as destiny, and I believed you. I still do. But she makes me wonder. I fI could love anyone forever, it would be her. When I'm with her, I feel complete.”
“I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.”
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