If I had simply wanted to trade on an insult to Islam, I could have done it in a sentence rather than writing a 250,000-word novel, a work of fiction.

I was living in New York at the time of the 9/11 attacks. And I remember, you know, in those weeks that followed, when none of us spoke about anything else really, a number of friends of mine, people I knew, including very experienced journalists, I heard them saying things like, well, now we understand what happened to you.

Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms.

One minute you've got a lucky star watching over you and the next instant it's done a bunk.

I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women.

This may be the curse of human race . Not that we are different from one anther , but we are so alike .

Perhaps the story you finish is never the one you begin.