Top 153 Quotes & Sayings by Somali Authors - Page 2

On a Friday night in 1983, I was in a taxi in New York riding home from dinner with friends. A drunk driver ran a red light and hit the cab, and I was thrown toward the glass partition. I tried to duck, but my face hit the glass, and the impact fractured my cheekbone, my eye socket, my collarbone and several ribs.

Somalis really are very musically sophisticated, and they're about their own thing.

Fashion is fun, ridiculously fun. But it's base and it's wrong. You're not doing anything good for the world. You're just saying, 'Buy it, buy it, buy it.'

I have no intention of ever writing beauty tips on how to make an African-American nose look slimmer or Asian eyes look bigger. That's degrading. Asian eyes are what's beautiful about you and what makes you different.

There is no age better than another. The commitment to give of yourself and the knowledge that the time is right are what's important.

I did not want to get involved with a rock star. No way. It is not a sane thing to do.

I don't recognize my people anymore. I feel Somalia is lost. There is no Somalia. It is just a name.

The people who are the most successful in life are not stopped by fear.

Bowie is just a persona. He's a singer, an entertainer. David Jones is a man I met.

I have been a muse to Mr. Saint-Laurent, Valentino, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Versace.

Looking good is a commitment to yourself and to others. Wigs, killer heels, Pilates, even fillers - whatever works for you, honey.

Modeling gave me so many experiences, like traveling and being exposed to global cultures, but the most valuable lesson has been working with designers who truly are visionaries in their field.

If you can survive in the desert, you survive anywhere. I know more than anything life in desert. You can tell by looking at the dirt how long ago it rained, how hard it rained, how much water came through. You can by looking at a plant, a tree, from an animal's look. I can read the desert like I read my hand.

I arrive in New York on October 15, 1975. On my own, by the way.

I started the cosmetics in 1994 after I stopped modeling, out of my frustration as a woman of color not finding what I needed.

After the bones mended, my left eye was smaller than my right, and my eyebrow never grew back. But you know what? Big deal. I think I became beautiful after the accident. I became kinder, more aware. I gained respect for other people.

When everyone is telling you, 'You're so beautiful, there's nobody like you,' you begin to think it's true. But of course there is nobody like you.

I'm against a signature look, as that can be very outdating. But having said that, I also know my best qualities, so I'm not going to foolhardily give away my power.

I thought at 46 years old, I've been removed from the fashion industry for 10 years. I couldn't possibly write a model's book. That's for a 20-year-old. But I could say what I want to say without chastising the industry.

I don't love eating meat. I really only like chicken and fish.

I'm always criticised by other Somalis and Muslims for what I'm doing as a model and married to a white man and all that.

I had never seen 'Vogue.' I didn't read fashion magazines, I read 'Time' and 'Newsweek.'

I just want to keep acting and better my craft and see how far it goes.

If I feel frustrated in a situation, I take a deep breath and walk away.

I like to get up around 5:30 or six - that's my favorite time of day. My family is still asleep, and the office is still closed, so I can start my day slowly.

We never do Valentine's dinner, because everybody, they look. On Valentine's, imagine me and David going to a restaurant! Like, everybody's going to say, 'Did they talk? Did they hold hands?' Twenty years. We've been married twenty years!

I left Somalia when I was seven years old, but I witnessed a whole year in a war.

I would go to cosmetics counters and buy two or three foundations and powders, and then go home and mix them before I came up with something suitable for my undertones.

I've never been one to stay still. I was born a nomad, and I still am a nomad and always will be.

The poetry I grew up on is really an intense form of poetry; it's so pure and powerful.

I was never interested in becoming an actor. I was directing videos. I was never into acting. I was into shooting music videos. I've only ever been behind the camera. Never in front of it.

Women can build stability. We can make peace.

Change makes you find your calling, your legacy, and God's divine plan for your life. Don't run from it.

I'm writing from a place of - a center of authenticity, somewhere that only I know how to write from.

My looks have changed. I have laugh lines - not wrinkles.

Life is too short not to have pasta, steak, and butter.

We women in Somalia are trying to be leaders in our community.

I like 'The Usual Suspects'. Great film. I also like 'Scarface', films like that. Lots of gangster films. I really like watching all kinds of films, dramas, romance. I'll watch comedies. I like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle. I'd like to meet them.

I was raised to treat my body as a temple, but even as a little girl, I had a major issue with self-esteem. I thought there was something wrong with the temple.

Brooklyn's good. Brooklyn's funky. Brooklyn's happening.

Mrs. Obama is not a great beauty. But she is so interesting-looking - so bright. That will always take you farther.

My given name was Zahra, which is the 'flower of the desert.' I don't look anything like the flower of the desert. My name was changed by my grandfather to Iman, which means 'have faith.' And it meant to have faith that a daughter would come.

The truth was I felt ugly growing up. I only really started feeling comfortable in myself when I was 40.

I was not considered beautiful at all. Really. And this is what all models say. But I'm still not considered that beautiful in my country. I don't know the beauty ideal where I come from - but it's not me.

At night I dream about going to where I played when I was still young.

I've always said if what I'm going to create doesn't look good on everybody, I'm not going to do it.

It's really not a good idea to forecast or double guess the fates; you will always be fooled.

People called me 'Iman the black model'. In my country, we're all black, so nobody called somebody else black. It was foreign to my ears.

My father... gave me a positive connection with men because he is a gentleman.

I vowed to myself when I got married that I would cook every night. I find it very therapeutic.

We all want what every girl wants: to look fabulous while we're out there ruling the world.

I was a very nerdy child. I never fit in, so I became laboriously studious.

When I lived in Egypt, we always wore kaftans. I had cashmere kaftans from Halston. You put on a kaftan in your backyard, and it's like you're in Ibiza.

I have a 15-year-old daughter who thinks that I always had this self confidence that I have now at the age of 60. And I always tell her that what she is going through - the low self-esteem as a teenager - that is a right of passage.

Granted, I've changed internally as I've gotten older - I take it easy, I know when to stop and take care of myself, I laugh much more and with my belly and soul - but this comes from the confidence and acceptance that comes with maturity.

At the end of the day, my legacy will not be modelling but my cosmetics line.

I keep on 5 to 10 pounds above my jeans weight, as the ultimate no-filler-needed refresher, and buy a size up on jeans.

I have a certain manner of speech that is unique to me. I tried once to have my staff tweet for me, and it was a disaster! People knew right away that it wasn't me.

I don't feel political most of the time. Sometimes I'm placed in positions because no one else will go there.

What I believe will make my acting career successful going forward is hard work. I like to challenge myself. Then it's the people I meet and choosing the projects I want to work on correctly. There's a lot of characters I can play.