G. Willow Wilson

Alif found himself succumbing to the silence of the place, a quiet so open and broad that it seemed almost to roar, as though it was not silence at all but music in some ancient inaudible key.

“Belief,” said the man. “It doesn’t mean the same thing it used to, not for you. You have unlearned the hidden half of the world.”

Wonder and awe have gone out of your religions. You are prepared to accept the irrational, but not the transcendent.

I was afraid you’d turn into one of those literary types who say books can change the world when they’re feeling good about themselves and it’s only a book when anybody challenges them.

“Why won’t you let him see you?”

He chooses not to see,

It was only the lethargy of his service and the contempt in his voice that told Reza he had lost the boy’s respect.

purer thoughts bred purer air:

Metaphors are dangerous. Calling something by a false name changes it, and metaphor is just a fancy way of calling something by a false name.”