In Kabul, hot running water had been like fathers, a rare commodity.
Interpretation
This quote compares the rarity of hot running water in Kabul to the rarity of a father's presence, emphasizing the value of both.
Khaled Hosseini's quote reflects on the scarcity of essential comforts and emotional connections in life, likening the elusive nature of hot running water in Kabul to the even greater rarity of a father figure. This metaphor illustrates how both physical and emotional needs can be fundamental to human experience, yet often remain unfulfilled, highlighting themes of longing, loss, and the search for stability in challenging environments.
In practice
In a speech about childhood hardships, one could refer to this quote to illustrate the emotional impact of parental absence.
You're gutless. It's how you were made. And that's not such a bad thing because your saving grace is that you've never lied to yourself about it. Not about that. Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. But when a coward stops remembering who he is... God help him.
There was brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that even time could not break. - Amir
I don't outline at all; I don't find it useful, and I don't like the way it boxes me in. I like the element of surprise and spontaneity, of letting the story find its own way.
And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.
Perspective [is] a luxury when your head [is] constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.
The desert weed lives on, but the flower of spring blooms and wilts.
Justice is the means by which established injustices are sanctioned
Present wars impoverish the lords that win as much as those that lose.
To ask whether the mainstream media has a conservative or liberal bias is like asking whether al-Qaida uses too much oil in their hummus. It's - I think they might use too much oil in their hummus - but it's the wrong question.
From birth to death you go on living, groping in darkness with no light - and you could have created the light. You cannot find it in the scriptures; nobody can hand it to you. It is not purchased or sold; it is nontransferable. But you can create it - you can put all your energies together. You can start living consciously from this very moment.
Sometimes we find ourselves walking through life blindfolded, and we try to deny that we're the ones who securely tied the knot.
Men killing other men really is an extraordinary phenomenon. Why does it happen? And how long has it gone on? And have the motives changed?
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