“A remarkable, astonishing memoir…more can be learned about Iraq from this book than from all the newscasts.”

“Freedom comes from telling our own story, and empathy comes from listening to the stories of people very different from us. Zainab Salbi inspires us to do both. May her book help create bridges to a much bigger and kinder world.”

“My friend Zainab Salbi is one of the most inspiring people I know.”

“Zainab Salbi has written exactly the book we need for our fear-ridden and divided world. It's time for each of us to do our own work and embody the change we want to see; only then, from a place of fullness, can we light the way ahead. Read this book and then help point the way for others.”

“…a torrent of vividly recalled memories [that] reads with the sort of artless verve that can come only from one who's been unshackled from a lifetime of repression.”

“In this prescient and timely work, Salbi offers us a path to personal authenticity and freedom. It is an inner journey that demands we see with absolute clarity both the light and darkness we harbor within.”

“Only when we tell our stories can there be real healing.”

“Living our truth is not always easy, but it is always worth it.”

“Our dreams do not require us to self-sacrifice.”

“We can see our full selves only when we acknowledge both the light and the shadow within us.”

“When we lead with anger, we risk becoming the very thing we despise.”

“Only when we clean out our clutter can new dreams arrive.”

“Walk humbly on this earth so you may hear your heart's call and the call of the divine.”

“We can walk the path of freedom when we let go of our fears and dare to be who we really are.”

“How we tend to the health of our planet.”

“How we understand war, and the fragile architecture of peace.”

“How we explore history, art, culture, politics, and the shape of our economies.”

“To advocate for women’s equality, for their freedom, for the weight and worth of their wisdom — this can be a lonely road. But somewhere between now and then, others have heard, have nodded in recognition, have said yes, this too is true — and in that, the loneliness lifts. You remember you are not alone.”

“Being in service fills my heart. My work has lived in service — as a humanitarian, co-founding Women for Women International… as a philanthropist, co-founding Daughters for Earth… as a board member to IRAP and Vital Voices, and on the Advisory Board of EFE.”

“I am a meditator. I am a student of Sufism. I dabble — in piano, in clay, in paint, and sometimes poetry spills out of me, unbidden. But above all, I am learning from nature how to be a better human being. From the trees. From the soil. From my cat.”

“They have taught me to hold my consumption, my eating, my very appetite for the world, with more consciousness.”

“All of this comes from a single knowing: we cannot mend the outer coherence of the world if we have not tended to our inner coherence first. I am on a journey toward both — the inner and the outer — and I remain devoted to the learning, and to the growing, for as long as it takes. Join me in the journey.”