There are so many orgizations that do amazing work. I represent not only my own foundation, but the UN Refugee Agency, which has been around since 1951, and has helped 30 million refugees around the world.

There [in The Kite Runner] certainly are, as is always the case with fiction, autobiographical elements woven through the narrative.

People in the countryside carry a sense of dignity. They wear it, don't they? Like a badge? I'm being genuine.

All good things in life are fragile and easily lost

Hassan and I looked at each other. Cracked up. The Hindi kid would soon learn what the British learned earlier in the century, and what the Russians would eventually learn by the late 1980's: that Afghans are an independent people. Afghans cherish customs but abhor rules. And so it was with kite fighting. The rules were simple: No rules. Fly your kite. Cut the opponents. Good luck.

I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away.

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