We used the Western style to express our own themes and stories. But don't forget that our heritage includes The Thousand and One Nights.

Writing is for men who can think and feel, not mindless sensation seekers out of nightclubs and bars. But these are bad times. We are condemned to work with upstarts, clowns who no doubt got their training in a circus and then turned to journalism as the appropriate place to display their tricks.

I didn't make any money from my writing until much later. I published about 80 stories for nothing. I spent on literature.

You know what I'm afraid of? That God is sick of us.

In the calculus of good deeds you have the most to gain.

I thought they would never select an Eastern writer for the Nobel. I was surprised.

A priest's life is spent between question and answer-- or between a question and the attempt to answer it. The question is the summary of the spiritual life.