I see people who talk about America, and then undermine it by not paying attention to its soul, to its poetry. I see polarization, reductionism and superficiality.

The stories from Iran's present and past are reminders that freedom, democracy and human rights, or fundamentalism, fascism and terrorism are not geographically and culturally determined, but universal.

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

Art is as useful as bread.

The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.

A novel is not an allegory.... It is the sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath with the characters and become involved in their destiny, you won't be able to empathize, and empathy is at the heart of the novel. This is how you read a novel: you inhale the experience. So start breathing.

Lots of times you can feel as an exile in a country that you were born in.