Jean Sasson · 286 pages
Rating: (25.5K votes)
“happiness is realized only in the face of unhappiness”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“Patience is the key to solutions.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“Storytelling is power. A powerful book or movie can inform and inflame.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“If you stand near a blacksmith, you will get covered in soot, but if you stand near a perfume seller, you will carry an aroma of scent with you.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“sadly, all of my wounds had been inflicted by men”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“I would be the master of my life, no matter what actions I would have to take or pain I would have to endure”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“Only when we evolved as spirited stallions, with a strong will of our own, would we progress and leave the era of those primitives behind us.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“I came to dread what I might discover next in the cruel world of men”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“We must support all women in their endeavors to help others. When you harm a woman, you harm the whole world.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“the world of men harbours a morbid condition of overfondness for themselves”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“it was a known topic: The day of the virgin was leaving our land! Ali puckered”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“There are four main sources of the Shari’a: the Koran, which is compiled of thousands of religious verses revealed by God through his Prophet, Mohammed; the Sunna, which are the traditions the Prophet addressed that are not recorded in the Koran; the Ijma, which are the perceptions of the Ulema, or religious scholars; and the Qiyas, which is a method whereby known jurists agree upon new legal principles.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“Crimes are classified into three divisions: Hudud, Tazir, and Qisas. Crimes of Hudud are crimes that are denounced by God; the punishment is made known in the Koran. Crimes of Tazir are given to the appropriate authority to determine punishment. Crimes of Qisas give the victim the right to retaliate.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“If the Prophet could speak in this new age of modern amenities, I knew he would end such silly tradition.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“We must all work together to bring change to this earth.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“When you harm a woman, you harm the whole world.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“I had no use for a husband under duress”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“I was born free, yet today I am in chains. Invisible, they were loosely draped and passed unnoticed until the age of understanding reduced my life to a narrow segment of fear. - Sultana”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“In California, after weeks of meeting transported Americans from practically every state in the Union, I announced to Kareem that I liked these strange loud people, the Americans. When he asked me why, I had difficulty in voicing what I felt in my heart. I finally said: 'I believe this marvellous mixture of cultures has brought civilization closer to reality than in any other culture in history.' I was certain Kareem did not understand what I meant and I tried to explain. 'So few countries manage complete freedom for all their citizens without chaos; this has been accomplished in this huge land. It appears impossible for large numbers of people to stay on a course of freedom for all when so many options are available. Just imagine what would happen in the Arab world; a country the size of America would have a war a minute, with each man certain he had the only correct answer for the good of all! In our lands, men look no farther than their own noses for a solution. Here, it is different.'
Kareem looked at me in amazement. Not used to a woman interested in the greater scheme of things, he questioned me into the night to learn my thoughts on various matters. It was obvious that my husband was not accustomed to a woman with opinions of her own. He seemed in utter shock that I thought of political issues and the state of the world. Finally, he kissed me on the neck and said that I would continue my education once we returned to Riyadh. Irritated at his tone of permission, I told him I was not aware that my education was up for discussion.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“I had never been to America and was anxious to form an opinion of the people who spread their culture worldwide, yet seemed to know so little of the world themselves. New”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“I have the tendency to be nervous at the sight of trouble looming. As the danger draws near, I become less nervous. When the peril is at hand, I swell with fierceness. As I grapple with my assailant, I am without fear and fight to the finish with little thought of injury.”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“wed. Kareem would find it difficult to outwit”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“The man who marries a woman for her beauty will be deceived; he who marries a woman for good sense can truly say he is married. - Sultana”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“the gate. He looked as though he had been sleeping; his”
― Jean Sasson, quote from Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia
“On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.”
― John Owen, quote from The Glory of Christ
“The police have no leads as yet on the person or persons who painted obscene suggestions on the buildings. One store owner said he was going to leave a dictionary on a public bench so the vandals could at least spell the obscenities correctly.”
― Anne Bishop, quote from Marked in Flesh
“[A Chinese Restaurant.] Roma is seated alone at the booth. Lingk is at the booth next to him. Roma ,i>is talking to him.
* * *
Roma: . . . Eh? What I’m saying, what is our life? (Pause.) It’s looking forward or it’s looking back. And that’s our life. That’s it. Where is the moment? (Pause.) And what is it that we’re afraid of? Loss. What else? (Pause.) The bank,/i> closes. We get sick, my wife died on a plane, the stock market collapsed . . . the house burnt down . . . what of these happen . . . ? None of ’em. We worry anyway. What does this mean? I’m not secure. How can I be secure? (Pause.) Through amassing wealth beyond all measure? No. And what’s beyond all measure? That’s a sickness. That’s a trap. There is no measure. Only greed. How can we act? The right way, we would say, to deal with this: “There is a one-in-a million chance that so and so will happen. . . . Fuck it, it won’t happen to me. . . .” No. We know that’s not the right way I think. (Pause.) We say the correct way to deal with this is “There is a one-in-so-and-so chance that this will happen . . . God protect me. I am powerless, let it not happen to me. . . .” But no to that. I say. There’s something else. What is it? “If it happens, AS IT MAY for that is not within our powers, I will deal with it, just as I do today with what draws my concern today.” I say this is how we must act. I do those things which seem correct to me today. I trust myself. And if security concerns me, I do that which today I think will make me secure. And every day I do that, when that day arrives that I need a reserve, (a) odds are that I have it, and (b) the true reserve that I have is the strength that I have of acting each day without fear. (Pause.) According to the dictates of my mind. (Pause.)”
― David Mamet, quote from Glengarry Glen Ross
“وفي صلواتي صرت أرغب أن ابتهل قائلاً
يارب لاتنأى عني كثيراً ولا تقترب مني كثيراً كذلك !
دعني أتأمل النجوم على أهداب ثوبك ولكن لا تكشف لي عن وجهك !
اسمح لي أن أسمع خرير الأنهار التي تجعلها تجري والريح التي تنفخ في الأشجار وضحكات الأطفال الذين قد خلقتهم ولكن إلهي إلهي لا تسمح لي أن أسمع صوتك !”
― Amin Maalouf, quote from Balthasar's Odyssey
“Japan
Today I pass the time reading
a favorite haiku,
saying the few words over and over.
It feels like eating
the same small, perfect grape
again and again.
I walk through the house reciting it
and leave its letters falling
through the air of every room.
I stand by the big silence of the piano and say it.
I say it in front of a painting of the sea.
I tap out its rhythm on an empty shelf.
I listen to myself saying it,
then I say it without listening,
then I hear it without saying it.
And when the dog looks up at me,
I kneel down on the floor
and whisper it into each of his long white ears.
It’s the one about the one-ton
temple bell
with the moth sleeping on its surface,
and every time I say it, I feel the excruciating
pressure of the moth
on the surface of the iron bell.
When I say it at the window,
the bell is the world
and I am the moth resting there.
When I say it into the mirror,
I am the heavy bell
and the moth is life with its papery wings.
And later, when I say it to you in the dark,
you are the bell,
and I am the tongue of the bell, ringing you,
and the moth has flown
from its line
and moves like a hinge in the air above our bed.”
― Billy Collins, quote from Picnic, Lightning
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