A trauma is something one repeats and repeats, after all, and this is the tragedy of the Iqbals--that they can't help but reenact the dash they once made from one land to another, from one faith to another, from one brown mother country into the pale, freckled arms of an imperial sovereign.

The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.

It's a funny thing about rap, that when you say 'I' into the microphone, it's like a public confession. It's very strange.

She loved you in the morning because the day was new.

You become a different writer when you approach a short story. When things are not always having to represent other things, you find real human beings begin to cautiously appear on your pages.

...They cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow.

The object of the passion is just an accessory to the passion itself.