I've read that if an avalanche buries you and you're lying there underneath all that snow, you can't tell which way is up or down. You want to dig yourself out but pick the wrong way, and you dig yourself to your own demise.

Dr. Bashiri, if I ever want to put a curse in someone, I say, 'May God give you a restaurant.

I get daily e-mails from Afghans who thank me for writing this book [The Kite Runner], as they feel a slice of their story has been told by one of their own. So, for the most part, I have been overwhelmed with the kindness of my fellow Afghans.

Without women taking an active role in Afghan society, rebuilding Afghanistan is going to be very difficult.

Time can be a greedy thing-sometimes it steals the details for itself.

And suddenly, just like that, hope became knowledge. I was going to win. It was just a matter of when.

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.