Huma

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“In fact, I was shortly to be chosen for my first tour to New Zealand. Again, I had Javed, now restored to captaincy, to thank. I was immediately anxious. I could not drive. I had neither money of my own nor even a bank account. I rang Javed and asked him how much it would cost me to go on the tour; he replied deadpan: "100,000 rupees."

My heart sank. 'Javed bhai, my dad would never give me that amount of money,' I said gloomily. 'I'm sorry. I won't be able to come.'

Javed burst out laughing. 'You idiot!' he said. 'You don't have to pay; you get paid.'

I couldn't believe it. 'I get paid?' I said. 'To play for Pakistan? Unbelievable!”
― Gideon Haigh, Sultan: A Memoir

“Yet cricket was never the problem. In some ways, challenging as it often was, it was the simplest part of my life. Bowling to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara or batting against Shane Warne, Malcolm Marshall or Muttiah Muralitharan was child’s play compared to handling the expectations of my nation, the turmoil of my team and the machinations of my administration.”
― Wasim Akram, Sultan: A Memoir

“The first thing that hit their eyes was what appeared to be a coffin.
And the next four thousand nine hundred and ninety nine things that hit their eyes were also coffins.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe