When you know what you're against you have taken the first step to discovering what you're for.

I used to write a monthly column for the 'New York Times' syndicate. But I stopped because I found it really hard to have one extreme opinion a month. I don't know how these columnists have two or three ideas a week; I was having difficulty having 12 things to say a year.

Writers have an opinion about the world and offer arguments about the world. They should offer contemplation.

I grew up falling in love with kind of story, amazing, wonder tale of the East, which if you're a child growing up in India is all around you.And I think one of the gifts it gave me as a writer was this early knowledge that stories are not true.

The only thing worse than a bad review from the Ayatollah Khomeini would be a good review from the Ayatollah Khomeini.

I became a writer because I got addicted to story. The first storyteller in my life was my father.

We live in a frightened time, and people self-censor all the time and are afraid of going into some subjects because they are worried about violent reactions.