All Quotes

"The passion and belief for football in the country are massive. It's just amazing how people turn out to support us. I feel like being at home here and always happy with the kind of supporters we have"

"We have a job to do as we do not want to disappoint the fans who brought us this far. Their support means everything to us"

"I have done my duty to my country and God! To my mind, the most I have done is having helped with the little I could do to save the lives of the surrendered soldiers of Bataan and Corregidor."

"If you survive, tell the people that the women of the Philippines did their part in making the ember sparks of truth and liberty alive till the last moment."

"an unprepared society for demographic change can evaluate these trends as an economic threat. Already we hear terms of division as generational theft" or unpleasant comparisons among productive workers and retirees. Our community needs to ensure that costs and benefits of an aging population are shared equitably. Where policies encourage longer work years, on the other hand one has to make sure that vulnerable groups are protected from poverty."

"Repent and turn away from evil. At the moment we still believe that all 16 presidential candidates have good reasons to serve the people. The selfish reasons will only become apparent when the outcome of the election is known."

"The theme of hope fits the feeling in people's hearts: in this phase, we are bearers of hope; we have the hope that comes from God. We listen and offer our strength so that the Lord may complete his work and we may do our part humbly and with faith."

"Lord creates and chooses whatever He wills—the choice is not theirs. Glorified and Exalted is Allah above what they associate ˹with Him˺!"

"Imran did not woo the lady with romantic words or gestures like a conventional proposal. Reham was quite taken aback when Imran asked her what her parents names were and explained that he would like them to read the Istakhara or the special prayer before their wedding."

"Narrated by Hazrat Jabir ibn Abd-Allah al-Salami, he said, The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to teach us the rules of reciting Istikharah regarding our actions with the same importance as he would teach us a Surah of the Holy Quran. He used to say, "When one of you intends to do something (and is worried about its consequences), he should first pray two rak'ahs of voluntary prayer, then supplicate thus: O Allah, I choose You with Your knowledge and I seek Your guidance with Your ability, and I ask You of Your bounty, for You are the Knower of the unseen, O Allah, if You know that this is الأَمْرَ تسم تسميه بعينه خَيْرا لِي فَاجِلِ أَمْرِي وَآجِلِهِ قال او فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاقْدُرهُ لي وَيَسِرهُ لي ثُمْ بَارِك لي فِيهِ, ALLAH وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّه شَرٌّ لي في ديني وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي أَوْ قَالَ في عَاجِلِ امري وَآجِلِهِ, فَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ عَنِّى], And He has ordained for me good, as He was, and then He has pleased me with it. Pronunciation: Allah-humma ibi astakhiruka biilmika a astakdiruka bi qudratika a asaluka min fazbalikal azeem, faynaka taqdiru ala aqdiru ata'lamu ala a'lamu a anta Allah-mul-guyub. Allah-humma in kunta talamu anna ha-zal amar ( ) khairul li li deeni a maashi a aqibati amri a a-jilihi a a-jilih, faqdurhu li, a yassirhu li, summa ba-rik li fih. O Allah! I ask You for goodness with Your knowledge. I ask You for strength and Your grace with Your power. For You have the power; I have no power. You know, I have no knowledge, and You are fully aware of the unseen. O Allah! In Your knowledge, this matter of mine (will list my needs) for my present and future life, or if it is good for my religion, livelihood, and actions, then decree it for me. Make it easy for me and bless it. O Allah! And if, in Your knowledge, this act of mine is harmful to my religion, my livelihood, my actions, or to my present and future, then turn me away from it and keep it away from me. Ordain for me good in all things and make me content with it.”"

"Good things must be asked of Allah with all diligence, bad things cannot be asked of, and in all matters that have the potential or possibility of both good and bad, one must make istikhara."

"Sulát-ul-Istikhára.—Prayers for success or guidance. The person who is about to undertake any special business, performs two rakʾat prayers and then goes to sleep. During his slumbers he may expect to have "ilhám," or inspiration, as to the undertaking for which he seeks guidance!"

"I didn't talk much to Dadajan. He used to listen to the news on the transistor all the time. Sometimes he would go to the residence of a Pir Saheb named Hamid Qutubi, three miles away. He became a disciple of this Pir. When he couldn't hear the transistor, he would chant the prayers given by the Pir Saheb. Dadajan was terrified. His terror increased every day. He couldn't sleep at night. He would sit on a wicker chair on the veranda all night. One night, to know the future, he made istikhara. During istikhara, he saw a huge white bird with bright red eyes, come down from the sky, bite my hair and fly up into the sky. I was screaming, save me! save me! Dadajan, save me. Dadajan took a helicopter to save me. That helicopter was again being flown by a Pakistani pilot. He was shooting the bird with a pistol, as if he was flying a helicopter. No bullet hits the bird. It hits Avanti's cheek. Dadajan's Pir Hamid Qutubi interpreted the dream. Dadajan did not tell me what the interpretation was, but he became even more restless. All sorts of terrible news started coming from all sides. The military was bringing gunboats, burning houses, killing people indiscriminately, taking away young girls, all this. At one point, the military came to our area...."

"Miru put the sari on Auntie's head. Sultana said in a choked voice, will you marry Nasser? There is no need to say yes. If you remain silent, I will understand that you do not agree. - Auntie, sleep. So you have an opinion? Alhamdulillah. Miru said, you said if you remain silent, you will understand that I have an opinion. But I did not remain silent. I spoke. I said, Auntie, sleep. Sultana said, whether you like it or not, you will marry Nasser. I got this thing by praying Istikhara. - How did you get this thing? - Praying Istikhara. A method of knowing the future in dreams by reading prayers. - What did you see in your dream? In your dream, I saw you two eating rice from one plate. A big plate made of Chinese clay. - Does eating rice from one plate mean marriage? - Dreams of praying come like symbols. Symbols have to be interpreted. This is what comes in my interpretation. What is your interpretation? - My interpretation is that you sincerely want me to marry Nasser Sahib. You saw this thing in your dream because you want it. Wishful thinking to wishful dreaming. Aunty, did you fall asleep? Sultana did not answer. She really fell asleep."

"There is a way to ask the dead. This is called Istikhara. You have to go to sleep after reciting prayers and supplications. You have to sleep in the north-south direction, keeping your face pure. Your face should be turned towards the Kaaba."

"Sobahan's father arrived the day after his son's wedding. There was no way to recognize him. A full beard and moustache. Long Babri hair reaching to his neck. When he combed it with a comb, lice would fall out from there. The size of those lice was also huge. He became very enthusiastic about killing lice. He started keeping track of exactly how many lice he had killed. For example, one day, a total of seventy-seven lice had died. This was the biggest record. He shared this news with a smile, as if it were his. A great success. He also expressed great enthusiasm about the marriage of his eldest son. He kept saying countless times that the girl was a very auspicious sign. He is said to have come running after learning about this marriage by praying for blessings. He was seen chatting with his daughter-in-law from time to time. He stayed for almost a year, then left again and was never found again. Farid Ali passed IA. He got admitted to the BA class and failed the BA exam on time. Sobahan passed the IA. He started trying to get a job in Dhaka city. He got admitted to college and eventually passed the BA without any further studies."

"Istikhara (prayer for guidance) led me to Arsenal."

"Shadab’s family sent the proposal, and it all happened in few days since I had decided to marry off my daughter early according to the religious teachings. Shadab’s mother came with marriage proposal and said she won't leave my house until I say yes and that even if someone is a beggar or a king, he has to find his daughter's match and get her married; it is also Allah's will. You do Istikhara (seek guidance from Allah through prayers) and I will also do Istikhara. Besides, Shadab always offers his prayers five times a day. I had closely observed him. He used to gather all of us for namaz, It took me two days to decide and I said yes to them within two days and the rest is history. I consider myself fortunate because I solemnized my daughter’s Nikah and that too on the day when there was complete blackout in Pakistan.”"

"We have prepared adequately for the game. I don’t see ourselves coming back with a loss. We are looking forward to winning the first leg and the second leg"

"I am happy that FIFA is investigating the matter because it will provide an opportunity for my name to be cleared of all the allegations"

"I shall cooperate throughout the investigations because I want my name to be cleared and people should know the truth"

"The accusers have always hidden under the guise of social media and have never identified any victim in this entire episode. I have always been ready to cooperate with any investigations….. I hope once everything is concluded, the allegations will be put to rest"

"It means a lot to me because this will be a back-to-back participation in the Olympics. To me its good and the way we have improved from the time I started coaching this team, we have managed to go to all major tournaments. We have been to the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, the Olympics and even the World Cup so it is actually a bonus to me that we are going there again in succession"

"This is a huge plus for women’s football in Zambia and shows tremendous growth in our game"

"Maybe the age will give us an advantage. Playing old people, I think they will not withstand that pressure from the young ones"

"Experience is also important, but the games that we have played, I think our girls now have gained that experience"

"They've been to the African Cup twice, they've been to the Olympics. So for me, I think they have the experience required to play in this competition,"

"As far as I'm concerned, we cannot consider ourselves as underdogs"

"We regard ourselves as an epic team that can challenge any other team in the world"

"Now football will be shown to many more Japanese people and that helps our players as well, and our fight"

"Japan women's football will grow and television broadcasting is important for that. We want to be able to move people emotionally with our game"

"I was so depressed. I went through a two-year depression because, when I am not doing this (acting), I do get sad. And so, I'm not even going to lie. If I am not doing what I love, I get sad."

"I don't believe you need to get married in order to be a professional, to have a family or to be happy."

"Society has built this in our minds; if you have a womb then you must have kids. If you are a woman, then you must get married."

"You shouldn't be a squirrel in someone else's life looking for a peanut either. I want to be the cake with the cherry on top!"

"Fame is horrible, very confusing, it's an illusion - it doesn't exist."

"What man did not want a piece of viable land that belonged to him"

"For me, the Quality of Mercy is about what to do with particularly violent histories—when you inherit them"

"What do we do with this inherited state? An eye for an eye or forgiveness?” —and what does that forgiveness (or mercy) even look like"

"The idea of forward movement as progress has become something that I find very problematic. And I think it’s because I bought into it for a very long time in my own life, in my own thinking. That as long as things are forward moving, this is progressive. So I liked the idea of having these people thinking that they were coming here or coming together as a form of progressing, right? The very narrative of progress is so built into the whole colonial narrative that it can’t make sense of itself without that. But I actually liked the idea of realising, maybe, that that forward movement is not necessarily leading anyway. This is something that I think the protagonist of the novel realises by examining her father’s life closely, because he is someone who’s constantly on the move but also very lost and directionless. There are moments in our own histories, both collectively and personally, where, you know, it looked like we were doing this, but actually, we were not moving forward. Maybe, you know, we were stuck or we were moving back, but we were not doing that forward progression"

"I think when we think of the city it’s where people go to work. But in a country that has such little employment, why is the city so busy? Well, it’s because people are employing themselves. So it’s a whole other way of relating to that space"

"For me, Bulawayo is a city of people coming together to build the city. So it’s a very cosmopolitan space. Because we received the city for a very long time as a white people’s place, there’s a way people feel disconnected from it. But your great grandfathers were the ones building the various buildings that you’re looking at. They were the labour. And there’s pride to be had in that. So maybe when you’re there, have that connection to it. Realise that this is actually something that was actively created by people who then also actively created you. I think that connection is missing sometimes because we were not allowed to have that sense of ownership as black people, or people who are not white, of the city. Indian and Coloured people had to live in a very particular place in the city, for example. That segregation led to a very interesting connection to the city, but this is our city, and we should have that sense of communal pride"

"Honestly, I come from a very poor family and it was very difficult for us to survive. For us to survive I was the one who was killing animals in the bush"

"That’s what I love about looking at the history we’ve created, it is messy, it is chaotic. With all the attempts to make it otherwise actually what made the past the past was that it was just people not following the rules that had been put in place. I mean, if the rules had been followed, there wouldn’t have been women in the city, there would not have been the creation of the Coloured races, as it came to be known, there would not have been the creation of a middle class, there’s a lot of things that just were not supposed to happen. It’s people saying, oh, I see you’ve created this law, but I’m still going to do what I want. And I think when we look only at the laws that were in place, we miss the people’s reaction to that. This is why governments and power are afraid of people, because people are very contradictory and very difficult to confine and very difficult to define and they can do anything. I think the reason why, in this part of the world, apartheid and segregation became so violent is because people were told to stay within their boxes and they didn’t necessarily want to"

"But really, we can talk about the violence of apartheid, but what actually made the history was the messiness, was the chaos. Was people. That’s what creates the reality. Not necessarily following the rules, but most definitely breaking them"

"One of the things that makes me particularly unhappy with the way Zimbabwe has dealt with its race issue is that it has invisibilized—we still call them Coloured people—Coloured people. They’re silenced, they don’t have any political agency. And I think people would rather pretend that they don’t exist, because they don’t want to have to face the history of how they came to exist. In many ways I see parallels with the United States, and a lot of that violence, for me, stems from knowing that when someone has your last name and is black, and you’re white, you might share an ancestor. And the reason why you have that last name is something violent. So you’re going to continue that violence to make sure that that kind of relation is erased. But it’s there, and I think we now need to start facing those uncomfortable sides of our histories"

"I came across a lot of Sethekelis when I was reading archival sources. And I think a lot of us women who exist in the country don’t know that such women existed. Or if we know that they existed, we receive them with a very negative narrative that says, oh, they were loose women or they were prostitutes. That power that they had is totally taken away from them. And I think that is, well, more than problematic, and it’s something we need to revisit. We need to be very critical about how certain women were portrayed and continue to be thought about. Because again, we know that powerful women and women who are challenging anything are always considered very threatening, so history doesn’t want to remember them at all"

"we have to be confrontational about the past. We have to learn from it, but also challenge some of what we’ve received as knowledge and truth. I’m not comfortable with just letting the past be the past, because I think there’s so much to learn from it. The adage is that if you don’t learn from it, you’re just going to repeat it, and I think unfortunately we’re living through a period where we’re repeating it, we’re repeating a lot of things. For instance, I think if a lot of women who work at the market in Zimbabwe right now understood that they were continuing a tradition of defiance that started at the very beginning of the colonial era, they would have a very different sense of what they were doing"

"In some ways, living in Bulawayo I’m always aware of what could have been. So I’m always writing both what is and what could have been, or what was and what could have been. Because the potential for something better has always been there. We just never realised it. And I don’t know that we ever will, because we’ve never created the idea of a nation, so maybe we just never will. But I think it’s something to think about. When we read, there’s so much possibility, and then the reality of things is always a bit of a disappointment. But I think if we can imagine it, then we can achieve it. We seem to be able to do that with horrible things, so we should be able to do that with things that are good too"

"I think it is possible to reimagine or imagine something better for ourselves. I think it’s important. And it’s possible to use the past to do that. For me, the tragic thing is that history has always been owned by those in power. So what we receive as history—and this happens everywhere in the world—is already a narrative that is very curated. And I think our true empowerment comes from engaging with that history on our own terms ourselves, and taking what we want from it. And I think that’s a journey that, like you were saying, is just not built into our education systems, for obvious reasons. But it is something that I think if we did, could help people heal, in many different ways, traumas that some of them are not even aware that they have had, you know, historically or even up to today. And part of this bigger project is to show that this moment is very much like this other moment, is very much like this other moment. If we focus too myopically on a particular moment in our history, we lose sight of the fact that these things repeat. So maybe it’s not to question the person in power but to question the type of power itself, or to question the very systems that we have put in place. There’s a way in which we reduce things to people to make it easier, but a person is a person, a system is a whole other thing. And we ourselves are so imbricated in systems that we don’t know how to disentangle them. But we have to start trying to do some of that work"