In the end, I always act from the heart, even if I also value reason and tradition. I wish I could explain why, but I don't know.

We Gypsies know that where Jews are killed, Gypsies are always murthered too. And then a lot of other people, usually.

I love to cook and I've cooked a lot of Bulgarian food over the years.

Bulgarians eat tarator every single day in summer. They think of it as salad although we'd call it a soup. You can make it as thick or thin as you like depending on how much water you add. It's very practical in summer because yogurt cools the body faster than water, but the water hydrates you.

These atheist cultures were certainly diligent in preserving the relics of their saints.

It touched me to be trusted with something terrible.

As a historian, I have learned that, in fact, not everyone who reaches back into history can survive it. And it is not only reaching back that endangers us; sometimes history itself reaches inexorably forward for us with its shadowy claws.