I believe that there's a force of life in the universe, and that when we're writing or making music or painting, we're likely to connect with that flow.

what was time but a convention, a habit of mind, a custom of dress?

Being a daughter is only half the equation; bearing one is the other.

Having stopped expecting truth, we rarely get it.

There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtship, only backward.

Women in America read 'lifestyle' pages which are really glorifications of shopping. They teach us we must veil ourselves in make-up to be loved. And we willingly take the veil, thinking ourselves freed by it. Make-up is no more optional for us than the veil is for Arab women: it is our Western version of the chador.

I'm interested in what happens to people when they get into that publicity machine. We tend to think things have changed, but there's still a deep sexism underlying the way women are treated publicly.