Marriage and Love Quotes in Beneath a Marble Sky

"Do you remember, Swallow, our first night here together?"

"You were so excited."

"Yes. But even then…even then I somehow loved you." He reached for a rose that lay severed beneath its bush. "I'd give it all up," he whispered, glancing at the Taj Mahal, "for you."

A pair of boisterous Europeans passed and we quieted. Though I wanted to reach out to him, I dropped this coal of desire into cool water. "How is it, Isa, that we found each other?"

"Allah was kind."

"But was it Allah, or simple luck?"

He twirled the rose as he thought, inhaling its sweetness. "It was more than luck," he answered. "Luck might aid one in a game of chance, but something much more…infinitely more unfaltering brought us together."
(14.51-57)

I once heard of a man who, when deprived of opium after years of use, drowned himself rather than endure its absence. And in some capacities I was like this man, for my longing was so vast that I often doubted I could last another day. My failings as a mother and a lover haunted me. I never looked into a mirror, because I was ashamed of who I'd see.

Ultimately, my love saved me, for my love gave me strength. At night, when sleep was unwilling to rescue me, I gritted my teeth and devoured my fondest memories. In daylight, when I could no longer muster the will to pursue anything save thoughts of Isa, I imagined all that we'd do together, once we were reunited. (18.55)

"But he loves beautiful things, Nizam. Think of the Taj Mahal, think of what he creates. Why would such a man care for old things, when he can have something new?"

"You aren't a thing," he replied. "And perhaps that's the difference between us and other men. For most think of women as things, while we think of you as…" He paused, embarrassed. "I'm not a man of many words, my lady, nor am I a poet. But it seems to me that we think of you as…as white elephants. We search a lifetime for you, and when we finally find you, we'll not toss you away." (19.101)