Were every man to live according to his desires alone, the world would descend into chaos.

With him, I became utterly myself as never before – and, to my astonishment, when I looked into his eyes like mirrors reflecting myself back to me, I admired the person I beheld there.

I placed a bowl of herbs and ointments in the window of my bedroom, and let the scented breeze carry him away . . .

With him, I became utterly myself as never before - and, to my astonishment, when I looked into his eyes like mirrors reflecting myself back to me, I admired the person I beheld there.

How many times in life have I been advised to "toe the line," to "tone it down," to stop "pushing the envelope"? As a journalist, I had to keep my opinions to myself for 30 years. I thought that, as an artist, I'd have the liberty to express my views. Now I'm told that doing so might hurt my readership. I'm so idealistic, as I said elsewhere on FB today, that I think people ought to read my books because they're good. Period.

Running away has been futile. Wherever I went life would be the same. Resisting my chains only seem to tighten them. Yet all around me women found ways to slip those bonds, to discreetly flout the rules and then return to their so-called captivity before anyone noticed.

His eyes were like bronze mirrors that reflected only my loveliness and none of my flaws.~Ai’sha

Each day was an unfinished thought. Night was a secret bursting to be told.~Ai’sha

I’d rather be a lone lioness, roaring and free, than a caged bird without even a name to call my own.~Ai’sha

A truth that displeases is better than a lie that pleases.~Abu Bakr