There is no such thing as perfect security, only varying levels of insecurity.

I'm a big-city boy. What I like is big cities. It's not just what I like. It's what I write about.

Some people are paralyzed by the consciousness of death, other people live with it.... The fatwa certainly made me think about it a lot more than I ever had. I guess I know I'm going to die, but then, so are you.

Is birth always a fall?

I'm not a very big fan of 'Slumdog Millionaire.' I think it's visually brilliant. But I have problems with the story line. I find the storyline unconvincing.

Even when things are at their worst, there's a little voice in your head saying, 'Good story!'

Such is the miraculous nature of the future of exiles: what is first uttered in the impotence of an overheated apartment becomes the fate of nations.