A Thousand Splendid Suns is a historical fiction written by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini in 2007. The novel tells the tale of Mariam, an illegitimate teenager from Herat who is forced to marry a shoemaker from Kabul after a tragedy. The book highlights the quiet heroism of Afghan women and the bonds developed in war-torn Kabul. A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes are heartbreaking, and can heal hearts. Let’s take a look at the 30 most popular quotes from this bestselling novel.
This Blog Includes:
- A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes and Analysis
- A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes With Page Numbers
- A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes About Love
- A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes About Women
- A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes About War
- A Thousand Splendid Suns Quizlet-Style Quotes
- Books Like A Thousand Splendid Suns You Should Read
- FAQs
A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes and Analysis
Read A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes, and their meaning

- A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance.
Meaning: Underscores the importance of women’s education for the progress of an entire nation - Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.
Meaning: Reflects deep-seated gender biases and the scapegoating of women. - And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last.
Meaning: Captures Mariam’s transformation from shame and rejection to love, dignity, and purpose. - Each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how people like us suffer, she’d said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us.
Meaning: A poetic metaphor for the silent endurance of women’s suffering.
Also Read: Famous Literary Quotes: 50 Great Quotations That Endure
A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes With Page Numbers
The popular quotes and thier page numbers are also provided below

- The Chinese say it’s better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for one – Page 183
- And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knew that they were not enemies any longer – Page 250
- For me, it ends here. There’s nothing more I want. Everything I’d ever wished for as a little girl, you’ve already given me. You and your children have made me so very happy – Page 358
- A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her – Page 401
Also Read: 29 Thought of the Day by William Shakespeare
A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes About Love
These are the novel’s most popular quotes about love

- And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.
- I will follow you to the ends of the world.
- Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways and move them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with startling heroism.
- Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.
A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes About Women
These are the novel’s famous quotes about women

- A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing, Mariam. It isn’t like a mother’s womb. It won’t bleed. It won’t stretch to make room for you.
- Behind every trial and sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason.
- Laila has moved on. Because in the end, she knows that’s all she can do. That and hope.
- Though there were moments of beauty, Mariam knew for the most part that life had been unkind to her.
A Thousand Splendid Suns Quotes About War
These are some thought-provoking quotes about war

- And that, my young friends, is the story of our country, one invader after another. Now the Soviets. But we’re like those walls up there. Battered, and nothing looks pretty to look at, but still standing.
- The Mujahideen, armed to the teeth but now lacking a common enemy, had found the enemy in each other.
- I know you’re still young, but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. You’re a very, very bright girl. Truly, you are. You can be anything you want, Laila. I know this about you. And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men, maybe even more. Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance.
- Joseph shall return to Canaan, grieve not; Hovels shall turn to rose gardens, grieve not. If a flood should arrive, to drown all that’s alive, Noah is your guide in the typhoon’s eye, grieve not.
Also Read: 50+ Thought of the Day by Rabindranath Tagore
A Thousand Splendid Suns Quizlet-Style Quotes
Read these quizlet-style quotes from the book A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Tell your secret to the wind, but don’t blame it for telling the trees.
- Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly.
- With the passing of time, she would slowly tire of this exercise. She would find it increasingly exhausting to conjure up, to dust off, to resuscitate once again what was long dead…
- She wished she could visit Mariam’s grave. But she sees now that it doesn’t matter. Mariam is never very far. Mariam is in her own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.
Books Like A Thousand Splendid Suns You Should Read
Are you looking for books like A Thousand Splendid Suns? Here is a list of similar books you might like-
S.No | Book Name | Author | Description | Goodreads Rating |
1 | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | Follows Amir, a boy from Kabul, as he navigates a complex friendship and seeks redemption amidst Afghanistan’s turbulent history. | 4.34 |
2 | The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | Narrated by Death, this novel tells the story of Liesel, a young girl in Nazi Germany, who finds solace in stealing books and sharing them with others. | 4.38 |
3 | Memoirs of a Geisha | Arthur Golden | Chronicles the life of Chiyo, sold into a geisha house in Kyoto, as she transforms into the renowned geisha Sayuri amidst the backdrop of World War II. | 4.11 |
4 | The Henna Artist | Alka Joshi | Set in 1950s India, Lakshmi escapes an abusive marriage to become a sought-after henna artist in Jaipur, while secretly providing herbal remedies to women seeking autonomy. | 4.05 |
5 | As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow | Zoulfa Katouh | Salama, a pharmacy student in Syria, becomes a volunteer in a hospital during the civil war, confronting loss, love, and the will to survive. | 4.49 |
6 | Water for Elephants | Sara Gruen | Recounts the memories of Jacob, who joins a traveling circus during the Great Depression, finding love and purpose amidst chaos. | 4.11 |
7 | All the Light We Cannot See | Anthony Doerr | Parallel stories of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, a German boy, whose paths collide in occupied France during World War II. | 4.31 |
8 | The Help | Kathryn Stockett | Set in 1960s Mississippi, it explores the lives of African American maids working in white households and the young writer who tells their stories. | 4.46 |
9 | The Forty Rules of Love | Elif Shafak | Interweaves two narratives: a contemporary housewife’s spiritual awakening and the 13th-century poet Rumi’s transformative friendship with Shams of Tabriz. | 4.16 |
10 | The Tattooist of Auschwitz | Heather Morris | Based on a true story, it follows Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew tasked with tattooing numbers on prisoners in Auschwitz, finding love amidst horror. | 4.31 |
These were the Books Like A Thousand Splendid Suns.We hope the Goodreads rating provided above will help you to choose the right book.
FAQs
The most famous line of the book is “One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.” “But time is the most unforgiving of fires…”
The novel was about the rights of women under the Taliban. The main message was that under extreme hardship, love, loyalty, and the strength of human connection can help individuals to overcome adversity and find hope.
The first line of the book A Thousand Splendid Suns is -Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass. One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs. And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls”.
The famous quote-marriage can wait, education cannot is by Khaled Hosseini. The quote emphasises the importance of education for women.
Aziza stutters due to the chaos around her. The distress manifests in her in the form of stuttering or sa light tremor. Laila notices that this change in her daughter is a sign of something serious.
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