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Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini Quotes

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Famous Khaled Hosseini Quotes

“When I went to Afghanistan in 2003, I walked into a war zone. Entire neighborhoods had been demolished. There were an overwhelming number of widows and orphans and people who had been physically and emotionally damaged; every 10-year-old kid on the street knew how to dismantle a Kalashnikov in under a minute. I would flip through math textbooks intended for third grade, fourth grade, and they would include word problems such as, "If you have 100 grenades and 20 mujahideen, how many grenades per mujahideen do you get?" War has infiltrated every facet of life.”

PeopleIfsYearsWarProblemKidsNumbersStreetsMinutesThirdsMathGradesZoneNeighborhoodOverwhelmingAfghanistanFourthFlipWidowsOrphanTextbooksFacetsGrenadeThird GradeFourth GradeWar ZonesWidows And OrphansMujahideenKalashnikov
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“I returned to Kabul after a 27-year absence. I came away with some optimism but not as much as I had hoped for. The two major issues in Afghanistan are a lack of security outside Kabul (particularly in the south and east) and the powerful warlords ruling over the provinces with little or no allegiance to the central government. The other rapidly rising concern is the narcotic trade which, if not dealt with, may turn Afghanistan into another Bolivia or Colombia.”

IfsYearsMayLittlesTwoGovernmentTurnsPowerfulIssuesSecurityMajorsConcernOptimismTradeSouthEastAbsenceRisingAfghanistanRulingAllegianceProvincesColombiaNarcoticsBoliviaKabulCentral GovernmentWarlords
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife's slain body in his arms.”

IfsMenWayFirstsLittlesStoriesBodyHandsNightFoundGrowsWealthDarkPoorPovertyRichWifeMagicMinutesTearsArmsMountainSittingGreedTalesCupsBelovedThirtyKnivesShort StoryShedPearlsWeepingHappy ManBeloved Wife
Book:The Kite Runner
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“One time, when I was very little, I climbed a tree and ate these green, sour apples. My stomach swelled and became hard like a drum, it hurt a lot. Mother said that if I'd just waited for the apples to ripen, I wouldn't have become sick. So now, whenever I really want something, I try to remember what she said about the apples.”

IfsWantTryingLittlesSaidBookHardRememberMotherHurtTreeSickGreenApplesStomachOne TimeIt HurtsWant SomethingSour
Book:The Complete Khaled Hosseini: Digital box set
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“Was there happiness at the end [of the movie], they wanted to know. If someone were to ask me today whether the story of Hassan, Sohrab, and me ends with happiness, I wouldn't know what to say. Does anybody's? After all, life is not a Hindi movie. Zendagi migzara, Afghans like to say: Life goes on, undmindful of beginning, en, kamyab, nah-kam, crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis.”

IfsKnowsDoeEndsStoriesTodayWantedMovingLife IsAsksGoes OnCrisisMoving ForwardAsk MeLife Goes OnHindiCatharsisCaravansHassanHindi Movie
Book:The Complete Khaled Hosseini: Digital box set
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“Panic. You open your mouth. Open it so wide your jaws creak. You order your lungs to draw air, NOW, you need air, need it NOW. But your airways ignore you. They collapse, tighten, squeeze, and suddenly you're breaithing through a drinking straw. Your mouth closes and your lips purse and all you can manage is a croak. Your hands wriggle and shake. Somewhere a dam has cracked open and a flood of cold sweat spills, drenches your body. You want to scream. You would if you could. Cut you have to breathe to scream. Panic.”

IfsWantNeedsBodyHandsOrderCuttingAirColdDrawsMouthsDrinkingLipsWideBreatheYour BodyManageShakesSweatScreamCollapsePanicFloodLungsPursesCrackedSpillsStrawsDams
Book:The Complete Khaled Hosseini: Digital box set
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“‎I know you're still young but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. You're a very very bright girl. Truly you are. You can be anything you want Laila. I know this about you. And I also know that when this war is over Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men maybe even more. Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated Laila. No chance.”

IfsKnowsMenWantNeedsStillsWarYoungGirlWaitingChanceThousandSmartAfghanistanI Want YouYoung WomenSplendidNeed YouUneducatedAfghan
Book:The Complete Khaled Hosseini: Digital box set
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“The ordinary, utterly mundane reason behind the massacre makes it somehow more terrible, and far more depressing. The word 'senseless' springs to mind, and Idris thwarts it. It's what people always say. A senseless act of violence. A senseless murder. As if you could commit sensible murder.”

PeopleIfsMindReasonBehindsViolenceTerribleSpringOrdinaryMurderCommitSensibleDepressingMundaneMassacresActs Of Violence
Book:And the Mountains Echoed
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“I have a theory about marriage, Monsieur Boustouler. And it’s that nearly always you will know within two weeks if it’s going to work. It’s astonishing how many people remain shackled for years, decades even, in a protracted and mutual state of self-delusion and false hope when in fact they had their answer in those first two weeks.”

PeopleIfsKnowsYearsFirstsTwoSelfStatesFactsAnswersWeekTheoryDecadesDelusionMutualWorking ItGoing To WorkAstonishingTwo WeeksSelf DelusionFalse Hope
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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“What was I supposed to be, growing in your womb -- assuming it was even in our womb that I was conceived? A seed of hope? A ticket purchased to ferry you from the dark? A patch for that hole you carried in your heart? If so, then I wasn't enough. I wasn't nearly enough. I was no balm to your pain, only another dead end, another burden, and you must have seen that early on. You must have realized it. But what could you do? You couldn't go down to the pawnshop and sell me.”

IfsHeartEndsEnoughPainDarkGrowingSellsAssumingBurdenSeedsHolesSupposed To BeTicketsWombPatchesDead EndsFerry
Author:Khaled Hosseini
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