The marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the even recounted, for it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn.
They seek a source of gold that is cheaper than mining ore from the ground. Alchemy does describe a means to make gold, but the procedure is so arduous that, by comparison, digging beneath a mountain is as easy as plucking peaches from a tree.
In pursuing the boy, with no hint of whether he’d succeed or fail, he had felt his blood surge in a way it had not for many weeks. And seeing the boy’s tears had reminded him of the Prophet’s teachings on the value of mercy, and Hassan had felt virtuous in choosing to let the boy go.
Rather, using the Gate is like taking a secret passageway in a palace, one that lets you enter a room more quickly than by walking down the hallway. The room remains the same, no matter which door you use to enter.
It is said that repentance and atonement erase the past.
It is also possible that a man who would make use of such a guarantee would not find his older self alive when he first used the Gate.
Driven by the curiosity that impels men to look at the heads of the executed,
Do you now understand why I say the future and the past are the same? We cannot change either, but we can know both more fully.
A merchant such as myself must be well-versed in expressions of gratitude, but I had never before been as effusive in giving thanks as I was to Bashaarat, and every word was heartfelt.
I saw from his expression that he knew what I had meant to ask, and I bowed my head in humble apology.
Grief burns but does not consume; instead, it makes the heart vulnerable to further suffering.
The love of a woman can make you forget your pains. Perhaps they are right, but it cannot make you forget the pain you caused another.
Four things do not come back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.
Coincidence and intention are two sid3es of a tapestry, my lord. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false.
for a heartbeat I dared to hope that I had misremembered the date of the accident.
My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have been otherwise.
Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.