Quotes from book
A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. Mariam is an illegitimate child, and suffers from both the stigma surrounding her birth along with the abuse she faces throughout her marriage. Laila, born a generation later, is comparatively privileged during her youth until their lives intersect and she is also forced to accept a marriage proposal from Rasheed, Mariam's husband.


Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo

“I'm sorry," Laila says, marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on.”

Laila, p. 395
Variant: Every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief. And yet, she sees, people find a way to survive, to go on.
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo

“A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing. It isn't like a mother's womb. It won't bleed. It won't stretch to make room for you.”

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
Context: Nana (to Mariam) : A man's heart isn't like a woman's womb, Mariam! It won't bleed, it won't make room for you. A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing. I'm all you have in this world, Mariam and when I'm gone, you'll have nothing. You are nothing!

Khaled Hosseini photo

“Marriage can wait, education cannot.”

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo

“the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion”

Variant: Love was a damaging mistake and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion".
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini photo

“Regret…when it comes to you, I have oceans of it.”

Jalil's letter
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo

“and yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had love and been loved back. she was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. a mother. a person of consequence at last.”

Mariam, p. 370
A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
Context: She was leaving the world as woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last. No. It was not so bad, Mariam thought, that she should die this way. Not so bad.

Khaled Hosseini photo

“Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.”

Variant: Laila came to believe that of all the hardships a person has to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo

“And I wrote to you, Laila. Volumes.”

Tariq
Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

Khaled Hosseini photo
Khaled Hosseini photo

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