“India wants to avoid a war at all costs but it is not a one-sided affair, you cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”

“You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.”

“There is more power in the open hand than in the clenched fist.”

“When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand, nor can your hand pick up anything.”

“Shake your fist all you want but dead is dead.”

“We hold each other’s lives in our open hands, not in clenched fists.”

“Like is an emotion. Emotions”—he raised a hand, made a fist, clenched it tightly—“are like holding water. You open your hand, there’s nothing there. Better to be a weapon than a woman.”

“Tightly clenched fist don’t catch blessings.”

“under his dripping hair, he was as white as parchment, his hands clenched at his sides so tightly that they were shaking. It seemed clear that some terrible turmoil was ripping him apart from the inside out.”

“Tiny," Sanya rumbled to Michael, clenching a demonstrative fist. "But.”