Poor reading, like poor writing, is imposing what you already know on texts. You should go into reading to discover, not to reaffirm what you know.

I'm a perfectly equipped failure.

Living in the Islamic Republic is like having sex with someone you loathe.

Every great work of art ... is a celebration, an act of insubordination against the betrayals, horrors and infidelities of life.

It is amazing how, when all possibilities seem to be taken away from you, the minutest opening can become a great freedom.

I finally returned to Iran in 1979, when I got my degree in English and American literature, and stayed for 18 years in the Islamic republic.

Thus the regime has deprived Iranian women not just of their present rights, but also of their history and their past.