Reality has become so intolerable, she said, so bleak, that all I can paint now are the colors of my dreams.

Unfortunately for governments like that of Iran, when they forbid something, people become more interested.

Once we know of atrocities we cannot remain silent, and knowledge inevitably leads to an urge to protect the innocent.

The novels were an escape from reality in the sense that we could marvel at their beauty and perfection. Curiously, the novels we escaped into led us finally to question and prod our own realities, about which we felt so helplessly speechless.

America was based on a poetic vision. What will happen when it loses its poetry?

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

The worst crime committed by totalitarian mind-sets is that they force their citizens, including their victims, to become complicit in their crimes. Dancing with your jailer, participating in your own execution, that is an act of utmost brutality.