Sometimes Allah punishes and sometimes men have to do it, and it is a wise man who knows if it's Allah's turn or his own.
("White Teeth")
More Quotes from Zadie Smith:
Pulchritude--beauty where you would least suspect it, hidden in a word that looked like it should signify a belch or a skin infection.Zadie Smith
Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.
Zadie Smith
Blimey, thought Kelvin, what an eye-to-face ratio. When you want to say something delicate, you don't want that eye-to-face ration staring up at you. Big eyes, like a child's or a baby seal's; the physiognomy of innocence--looking at Archie Jones is like looking at something that expects to be clubbed round the head any second.
Zadie Smith
Full stories are as rare as honesty.
Zadie Smith
And the sins of the Eastern father shall be visited upon the Western sons. Often taking their time, stored up in the genes like baldness or testicular carcinoma, but sometimes on the very same day.
Zadie Smith
Generally, women can't do this, but men retain the ancient ability to leave a family and a past. They just unhook themselves, like removing a fake beard, and skulk discreetly back into society, changed men. Unrecognizable.
Zadie Smith
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