I was overwhelmed with the kindness of people [in Afghanistan] and found that they had managed to retain their dignity, their pride, and their hospitality under unspeakably bleak conditions.

Afghanistan has always been sort of a fractured nation, very tribal, where the countryside and the distant provinces have been run by custom, by tribal law and by tribal leaders rather than edicts from the central government in Kabul.

The short of it is, as an aspiring writer, there is nothing as damaging to your credibility as saying that you don't like to read.

All my life, I'd been around men. That night, I discovered the tenderness of a woman.

Attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.

The images [of The Kite Runner grafic] were created in Fabio Celoni's mind. I chose to let him take the lead. Fabio and I did exchange an e-mail or two, but it was my intention to step out of the way and let his artistic instincts take over.

There is only one sin. and that is theft... when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth.