To be born again,' sang Gibreal Farishta tumbling from the heaveans, 'first you have to die. Ho ji! Ho ji! To land upon the bosomy earth, first one needs to fly Tat-taa! Takatun! How to ever smile again, if first you won't cry? How to win the darling's love mister, without a sigh?

It may be that the books that were best liked in your lifetime are not the ones that are best liked 100 years later.

I grew up in a family in which there was very little religion. My father wasn't religious at all. But he was really interested in the subject of, you know, the birth and growth of Islam. And he basically transmitted that interest to me.

A mature society understands that at the heart of democracy is argument.

Can one drown in one's element... If fish can drown in water, can human beings suffocate in air?

You start at the stupid end of the book, and if you're lucky you finish at the smart end.

Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes.