The Bookseller of Kabul Quotes

“When a man has everything and does not know what more to do, he tries to teach his donkey to talk.”
― Asne Seirstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“What the sounds and smells do not divulge, gossip supplies. It spreads like wildfire in the neighborhood, where everyone is watching one another's morals.”
― Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“War was a central theme in maths books too. School books - because the Taliban printed books soley for boys - did not calcualte in apples and cakes, but in bullets and kalasnikovs. Something like this: 'little Omar has a kalasnikov with three magazines. There are twenty bullets in each magazine. He uses two thirds of the bullets and kills sixty infidels does he kill with each bullet?”
― Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“In Afghanistan a woman’s longing for love is taboo. It is forbidden by the tribes’ notion of honor and by the mullahs. Young people have no right to meet, to love, or to choose. Love has little to do with romance; on the contrary, love can be interpreted as committing a serious crime, punishable by death.”
― Asne Seirstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“Anonymity became a release, the only place to which I could turn.”
― Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“Do you know what is our problem? We know everything about our weapons, but we know nothing about how to use a telephone.”
― Åsne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“They played a game of dare - who could get closest to the flames?”
― Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul

“There are many things one can think of when one needs someone to vent one’s wrath on.”
― Asne Seierstad , The Bookseller of Kabul

“A água diz ao impuro? 'Venha cá.' / O impuro responde 'Tenho vergonha.' / A água replica: 'Como poderá se purificar dos seus pecados sem mim?”
― Asne Seierstad, Bookseller of Kabul

“Pessoas cruéis veem um velhinho
a caminho da minha cama
e ainda me perguntam por que choro e arranco os cabelos

Meu Deus! De novo me mandastes a noite escura
e de novo tremo da cabeça aos pés
por ter que subir na cama que odeio.”
― Asne Seierstad, Bookseller of Kabul

“Los talibanes eran poco versados en la historia islámica o afgana, y tampoco les interesaba lo más mínimo.”
― Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul