Perhaps this is just punishment for those who have been heartless, to understand only when nothing can be undone.

A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything.

Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name. Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975 —and all that followed— was already laid in those first words.

As far as I know, he never asked where she had been or why she had left and she never told. I guess some stories do not need telling.

For a novelist, it’s kind of an onerous burden to represent an entire culture. That said, I’m in a unique position to speak on behalf of Afghanistan on certain issues that I feel are important, particularly the issue of Afghan refugees.

It so happens that the major relationships in the novel [The Kite Runner] are between men, dictated not by any sort of prejudice or discomfort with female characters, but rather by the demands of the narrative.

she held her breath, and in her head, counted seconds. She pretended that for each second she didn’t breathe, God would grant her another day