In the end, the world always wins. That's just the way of things.

Don't be afraid to tell the truth. It's better to hurt someone by truth than to make them happy by lies.

Joseph shall return to Canaan, grieve not, Hovels shall turn to rose gardens, grieve not. If a flood should arrive, to drown all that's alive, Noah is your guide in the typhoon's eye, grieve not.

I think the emancipation of women in Afghanistan has to come from inside, through Afghans themselves, gradually, over time.

Inside Laila too a battle was being waged : guilt on one side, partnered with shame, and, on the other, the conviction that what she and Tariq had done was not sinful; that it had been natural, good, beautiful, even inevitable, spurred by the knowledge that they might never see each other again.

I don't outline at all; I don't find it useful, and I don't like the way it boxes me in. I like the element of surprise and spontaneity, of letting the story find its own way.

Behind every trial and sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason.