Ammi Quotes

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is the good guy”—Ken Ammi

Bruce ate a mouthful of eggs and meditated. 'I wonder how many of the great heroes of history would turn out to be a slow runner, if you ever investigated the circumstances.

And in the background, the constant, high, whining mewl of local disapproval. Within the first few months of her return, to her parents' home, Ammy quickly learned to recognize and despise the ugly face of sympathy. Old female relations with incipient beards and several wobbling chins made overnight trips to Ayemenem to commiserate with her about her divorce. They squeezed her knee and gloated. She fought off the urge to slap them. Or twiddle their nipples. With a spanner. Like Chaplin in Modern Times. When she looked at herself in her wedding photographs, Ammu felt the woman that looked back at her was someone else. A foolish jeweled bride. Her silk sunset-colored sari shot with gold. Rings on very finger. White dots of sandalwood paste over her arched eye-brows. Looking at herself like this, Ammu's soft mouths would twist into a small, bitter, smile at the memory - not of the wedding itself so much as the fact that she had permitted herself to be so painstakingly decorated before being led to the gallows. It seemed so absurd. So futile. Like polishing firewood. ....... Ammu knew that weddings were not something that could be avoided altogether. At least not practically speaking. But for the rest of her life she advocated small weddings in ordinary clothes. it made them less ghoulish, she thought.

Ammi would give me no added particulars of this scene, but the shape in the comer does not reappear in his tale as a moving object. There are things which cannot be mentioned, and what is done in common humanity is sometimes cruelly judged by the law.

Thank you to the friends I laughed with and leaned on at various times while writing this book, and whose domain expertise I occasionally abused for story “research,” including Joy Somberg, Misha Wright, Ammie Hwang, Maya Rock, Jonathan Tze, Nina Hein, Ana Martínez, David Petersen, and Pia Wilson.

It’s hard to say exactly how the pain shapes my days; it is as variable as the weather, as tomatoes, as a child. Sometimes it finds me with the first turn in bed; sometimes only after too long at a party; sometimes it is all that I am—my truest self—and other times I only recognize it on the faces and stoops of others enough to say its name. Pain—you are a cipher as well.

…in the twentieth century grief lasts at most a year.’ I have used this quote from the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet as a prelude to a small tale before I go on to the War in iraq. The reason I chose to use this quote is because I wonder how long grief lasts in the twenty-first century. Is it now a month? Two weeks? Or just enough time for the television cameras to record it and then it’s over? I don’t know.

When the time is right, I’ll be honest about who I am—my name and my heritage, and you’ll see what I knew all along. When a man is a patient on an operating table, and there’s only one person in the room with the skills to save his life, that patient will instantly forget that he used to be a bigot.

Holy Spirit of God, thank You for filling my life with You. You are in control of all that I am—my thoughts, my actions, my words, and my feelings. Thank You, Spirit of God. I am now living under the downpour of Your power and strength and blessing, and I thank You for the riches of Your mercy. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

I'm not sure violence needs a point . . . . Sometimes it's just muscle flexing. A reminder to the weaker party of who's in charge

good intentions don't pave roads

We're in the uphill part . . . That horrible, slow gathering climb. But once we reach the peak and get ourselves together, we're going to get some speed on the down-go that'll whip your hair straight back, mark my words.

But if we're not here to do what needs doing, then what is the point of us? I won't take unnecessary risk, Your Very Juniperest, but we're all here to save the day. And sometimes, the day just won't save itself without our giving it a good shove.

So much bulk often hung upon the thinnest of spines. All Juniper could do was set the body in motion and hope that the rest would follow in due time.

Juniper clenched her fists. It wasn't fair. Why should deception and betrayal and scheming machinations win the day? Why not truth loyalty and hard work?

The next ten minutes or so passed in tense silence, as the clatter of the approaching army mounted ever louder in their ears. Juniper stood at the front center of the stage, trying to look tall and stern and regal. In truth, she knew that she looked short and scrubby, about as un royal as humanly possible in her chopped-off hair and sweat-stained britches. But attitude? That she could put out in wagonloads.

Fighting meant that there were enough people free and alive to fight. And as Juniper herself had learned, the newly freed had an extra vigor for battle that was all their own. Desperation is a fiery thing, driving people to heights they'd otherwise think impossible.

Hostile takeovers could be so awkward!

A lavish breakfast buffet was set out in the dining room: quails' eggs fire-roasted in their shells; soft cheeses whipped to fine peaks and served on wispy crackers; delicate rose petal jelly and carmine berry cobbler.

She'd had enough of being a queen for just this moment. Today, she was happy being just a princess, a cousin, and a friend.

And was the story truly sad, when followed through to its end?

It can take time to grow a dream, Juniper thought. but every hard step along the way is worth it when the bloom springs to life at last.

Maybe it took going away before you could properly find your true home.

Might I have a very small country for my birthday?

It all began, old Ammi said, with the meteorite. Before that time there had been no wild legends at all since the witch trials, and even then these western woods were not feared half so much as the small island in the Miskatonic where the devil held court beside a curious stone altar older than the Indians.

Times and seasons, my dear, times and seasons! So much can turn upon the span of a moment.

The only thing better than a life well lived is a death well met.

The world turns as it will, and we can but follow its broken path. Let us eat while we may.

That was the thing about being queen. You had to know things. Didn't you?

Juniper remembered something her father had said in one of his endless Political Discourse lectures, a trick he used when he was out of ideas but couldn't afford to show it. "People need strong direction from their ruler," he'd said. "But the direction doesn't always have to come from you alone. A wise leader will use every tool available, brawn and brain alike.

Overlook a wasp, and you will face the swarm, her father had once told her.

There are times when an oath forsworn brings the truest honor of all.

Well, the way turns as the road leads.

And then Juniper knew that just because someone's face shaped a smile, it did not mean there were no tears hiding somewhere deep inside.

After all, even a cracked bucket works when you need to pour.

My intentions were good insofar as they went, but I see now that the means of reaching a goal is every bit as important as the goal itself. It's no good to save the body if you must gut the soul to do so.

Ammi, ammi , can your daughter have two passports ? Ammi, I am Bidoon, I don’t even have an ID. I don’t have a driving licence, nothing at all.

Dreams are meant to be heard, so don’t keep them in whispers.

Something clicked in my mind, and I recognized the strange way Ammi was acting. She was flirting with me!

Kamu adalah awan yang kupandangi semalaman, yang subuh ini menjelma embun di dedaunan, yang datang padaku lewat rintik-rintik hujan.

Aku ingin kamu masuk ke dalamnya, namun jangan sampai terjebak; aku ingin kamu menyelam ke dasarnya, namun jangan sampai tenggelam; yang aku ingin kamu rasakan tentang cinta.

The second evening, the daughters got him drunk again and Gaia, the youngest, slept with him and got pregnant as well. The fruit of their incestuous intercourse would one day prove to be a thorn in the side of Abraham’s seed to come. The firstborn bore a son and called him Moab. The younger one bore a son and called him Ben-ammi. These two would be the fathers of the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Turgay makes another face and shakes his head. ‘You see my antenna?’ He points to a little growth of skin next to his right ear. ‘This my antenna to God. No pray, no Allah. Allah. Just this. God understands. He knows that Turgay is good man even if he drink beer. I drink because I sad inside.’ I try to figure out Turgay’s politics. ‘Is there a problem in the east of Turkey?’ I ask. ‘What east?’ ‘With the Kurdish people?’ ‘What Kurdish people? What Jewish people. What Greek, what Turkish people? What Christian, what Muslim? Everyone same. Government in Ankara must understand. Fuck. Only Allah up there for all.’ Fuck, I thought to myself: ‘In a strange way, Turgay is a Sufi.’ the

This brings me back to Kemal Mustapha or Atatürk. I have a question to ask him: Did he try too hard to erase history and memory? There is another question too that needs to be asked: What is modernity and which countries or people define it? The reason I have posed this question is because the future of so many countries depends on the answers.

But millions of people across countries dared to ask instead: what if the reality we are shown is not reality? What if our lives are bound with the well-being of millions of others, however different our cultures and histories? This was the slight idea, like the teaspoonful of yogurt in the lake that took and shook his grand theory. a

It was so apparent that he loved her very much. Was that it? Maybe it was. It took a lot to accept the decision of a daughter and overrule everyone else. Nusrat

NUSRAT: I don’t know . . . sometimes I feel ashamed . . . RASHEED: Of being a Muslim? Nusrat nods. RASHEED: Well son, let me tell you something that will cheer you up. We didn’t invent apartheid. We didn’t invent germ warfare. We didn’t start the world wars or the holocaust. We didn’t have gulags. We were not in Vietnam. Nor did we bomb Hiroshima. Does that make you feel better? Nusrat

The world is changing rapidly?’ said Nusrat. ‘And I am on the side of change. There have been revolutions in France and Russia. Mighty storms have swept away old histories and values. Kings and queens do not matter any more because all men are equal. And I believe that from now on, men will be judged not by who they are, what their families own or where they come from, but by what they can do. Look at the decrees of Kemal Atatürk! In one stroke, he has changed the destiny of his people and his country. Look at what electricity, the telephone and the motor car have done to the world! There are even airplanes in the sky! Every day something is being discovered. That is the world I have gambled on. That is the world I believe will shape the future. We have a choice. Do we want to live in a well from which we can see only a patch of sky, or do we want to live outside the well and see much more? I want to live outside the well. That is the way I want to see the world.’ Nusrat

Don’t try your tricks on me Saddu. I know what you’re up to. Russia, Russia, Russia. Now you tell me, why do they have only one political party?’ ‘Ammi, the Party represents the interests of all the workers and peasants.’ ‘What about the others?’ ‘It’s a workers’ state, there are no others.’ ‘Why can’t there be five workers’ parties?’ I got exasperated. ‘Why five?’ ‘Because I believe all workers do not think the same way. Just like all mothers do not think the same way and all fathers do not think the same way.’ Baba had laughed. There was silence for a while. ‘Are you a communist, Saddu?’ Ammi you had posed the question suddenly and I was taken by surprise. ‘I don’t know Ammi, but I’m reading a lot about them.’ ‘Do you believe in God?’ ‘I don’t know.’ I still remember the look on your face when I said that. It seemed you didn’t know what to say. I decided to ask you a question. ‘Ammi, what would you say if I told you I don’t believe in God?’ You thought for a while. ‘I would say nothing, Saddu.’ ‘Would you be worried about me?’ ‘I would, because I’m your mother.’ And then you laughed but I knew you were worried. B

Later, as he lay in bed, Nusrat recalled the phrase used by Jamal Khan: ‘a long-distance travelling partner.’ He liked it. It came from a Persian couplet that measured the love between a man and a woman to distances travelled together. Love was not the beginning of a journey but the consequences of one. It grew and flourished along the way. If there was no journey travelled, there was no love.

Ketika satu demi satu kabut menjadi awan gelap di luar jendela Aku mengingatmu karena aku masih mencintaimu Aku berulang kali mengumpulkan air mataku pada sebuah surat lalu mengirimnya ke langit Aku menunggu Ketika satu demi satu gerimis menjadi hujan lebat di luar jendela Aku merindukanmu karena aku masih mencintaimu Aku kembali menjatuhkan air mataku setelah mendapat surat balasan dari langit Aku sudah menerima pesanmu Aku sedang menangis bersamamu Aku akan mempercayai itu

Orang-orang ingin dicintai setinggi langit, kadang sedalam lautan. Padahal cinta bukan tentang ketinggian ataupun kedalaman. Perihal cinta, cukup dengan bersama untuk waktu lama, selama punya kesempatan.

Orang-orang ingin dicintai setinggi langit, kadang sedalam lautan. Padahal cinta bukan tentang ketinggian ataupun kedalaman. Perihal cinta, cukup dengan bersama untuk waktu lama, selama punya kesempatan.

Pretend like it was yesterday. Put tomorrow in a bottle.

Asmara adalah asrama dari sekumpulan drama.

Sewaktu menatap kepergianmu aku menangis saat hujan mulai jatuh dari atas langit. Aku menatap air mataku sendiri yang jatuh lalu bersembunyi di bawah tanah berumput. Aku dan hujan tidak bertengkar tentang siapa di antara kami yang lebih dulu membasahi rerumputan, aku dan rerumputan tidak bertengkar tentang siapa di antara kami yang lebih dulu kehujanan.

Aku ingin dicintai sepenuh hati, bukan setengah hati. Aku ingin dicintai setengah mati, bukan setelah mati. Aku akan mencintai setelah dicintai, aku janji.

Teman, kita membebaskan perhatian namun membatasi perasaan.

Katanya, jika rindu jatuh bersiaplah untuk patuh. Katanya, jika berani menyesap rindu harus siap menjadi candu. Benar, rindu memang pilu. Rinduku selalu saja kamu.

Duhai cinta bertepuk sebelah tangan, aku akan membalasmu dengan hangatnya genggaman, kubawa telapak lain untuk sebuah tepukan, kuberi sepasang lengan untuk sebuah pelukan

To Ammi and Daddy, because I know it was all for us. And to my husband, Salman, for loving a Butt.

Don't go dirty like those English,’ she warned him. ‘They wipe their bee tee ems with paper only. Also, they get into each other's dirty bathwater.’ These vile slanders proved to Salahuddin that his mother was doing her damnedest to prevent him from leaving, and in spite of their mutual love he replied, ‘It is inconceivable, Ammi, what you say. England is a great civilization, what are you talking, bunk.

Tough situations can either stunt or encourage growth.

Expression doesn't require any language to express your feeling. It comes from soul. Best Example is word (Expression) "Mom", "Maa", "Ammi".

A place for everything. Everything in it's place.

I hugged him. He was my favorite parent. Ammi would never be happy with me. I knew that for sure.

Our homes are the backstages and pauses in our lives. Once we step out the door, it's showtime.

That implicitness is one reason why a child’s obedience is paramount in Muslim culture. In my teen years, Ammi would often reprimand my obstinacy by saying, “What good is it to tell me you love me when you don’t do what I say?” Later still, when I was considering following Jesus, I knew I was contemplating the one choice that would be far and away the greatest disobedience. Not only would my parents feel betrayed, they would be utterly heartbroken.

My grandmother smiled at Ammi's simplicity. My mother, with her university degree, had learned that the world existed In binaries of sanity and madness, and was caught between her faith, which believed in both sorcery and creatures that morphed into cats, and modern rationality, to which these were but collective hallucinations.

Opportunities are always present. You just have to go out and get it. Stop complaining and start doing.

Hey, Abdul. How's the baby?" Nisha asked. The burly giant, who could snap your neck with his bare hands and shoot you dead from five hundred feet, went as soft and fuzzy as the teddy bear Yash had brought Abdul's newborn daughter yesterday. After seeing him hold the tiny pink bundle, Yash could not for the life of him stop thinking of the man as cuddly. "She's amazing. Has quite the lungs, just like her ammi." Abdul winked.

Surviving what you were never meant to survive creates a hard rock of happiness under the bones of the chest.