All my life, she gave to me a shovel and said, Fill these holes inside of me, Pari.

In many parts of the world, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. But I think we need women to solve the problems that men create.

If my book generates any sort of dialogue among Afghans, then I think it will have done a service to the community.

You say their stories, it is gift they give you.

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

It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make ANYTHING all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight. But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting. - Amir

He said that if culture is a house, then language was the key to the front door; to all the rooms inside. Without it, he said, you ended up wayward, without a proper home or a legitimate identity.