Being fired was the best luck of my life. It made me stop and reflect. It was the birth of my life as a writer.

Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts.

Without the faintest possibility of finding a job, I decided to devote myself to literature: it was about time to find out what I was worth as a writer.

We've all had our moments of weakness, and if we manage to get through today without any, we'll be sure to have some tomorrow.

If I could repeat my childhood, I would repeat it exactly as it was, with the poverty, the cold, little food, with the flies and pigs, all that.

Will we ever learn that certain things can be understood only if we take the trouble to trace them to their origins.

The U.S. needs to control the Middle East, the gateway to Asia. It already has military installations in Uzbekistan.