The Sirens of Baghdad Quotes

“If you haven’t lost your mind yet, that’s because you haven’t seen very much.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad

“I looked her up and down. She wouldn’t meet my eyes. I didn’t recognize her anymore. She was nothing like the image of her I had in my head. Her features meant nothing to me; she was someone else.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad

“He took a fine fresh fig from his pocket and washed it meticulously in a glass of water; then he peeled it open before our eyes. Inside, the beautiful fig was crawling with maggots. The imam concluded his lesson by saying, ‘It’s not a question of washing your bodies, but your souls, young men. If you’re rotten inside, neither rivers nor oceans will suffice to make you clean.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad

“A brute is still a brute, even when smiles; the eyes are where the soul declares its true nature.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad

“Life has rules, Omar, and without some of them, humanity would return to the Stone Age.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad

“il ne s'agit pas de laver son corps, mais son âme, jeunes gens. si vous êtes pourris de l'intérieur, ni les fleuves ni les océans ne sauraient vous désinfecter.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad

“Au diable la reconnaissance si elle est dispensée par des gens qui ne t'arrivent pas à la cheville.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Sirens of Baghdad