Like all children I had taken my father for granted. Now that I had lost him, I felt an emptiness that could never be filled. But I did not let myself cry, believing as a Muslim that tears pull a spirit earthward and won't let it be free.

To make peace, one must be an uncompromising leader. To make peace, one must also embody compromise.

It's quite difficult for me not to be able to return to my country, but in my country justice has been murdered.

No, I am not pregnant. I am fat. And, as the Prime Minister, its my right to be fat if I want to.

Right now, they feel they have lost their voice, and their miseries have increased since my departure.

I'm not into smoke-filled rooms. I don't have the time for byzantine political intrigues.

The next decade cannot be a decade of confrontation and contention. It cannot be east vs. West. It cannot be men vs. women. It cannot be Islam vs. Christianity. That is what the enemies of dialogue want.