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.

Out-of-step intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and the deceased Edward Said have often been dismissed as crazy extremists, 'anti-American,' and in Mr. Said's case even, absurdly, as apologists for Palestinian 'terrorism.'

The USA approach looks like bullying because it is.

I think people direct good films when they feel personal to them, not because it's a famous book or something. It has to something move over that and somehow become personal to the director.

I don't like books that play to the gallery, but I've become more concerned with telling a story as clearly and engagingly as I can.

The world is full of things that upset people. But most of us deal with it and move on and don't try and burn the planet down.

I do think that there is such a thing as human nature, and that the things that we have in common are perhaps greater than the things that divide us.