A farmer is dependent on too many things outside his control; it makes for modesty.

In India, there are real consequences to inattention; drivers who jeopardize pedestrians can be lynched on the spot.

What was the duty of the teacher if not to inspire?

The traveler feels at home everywhere, because she is never at home anywhere.

Through my fiction, I make mainstream readers see the new Americans as complex human beings, not as just The Other.

I feel empowered to be a different kind of writer. The longer I stay here, the more light filters into my work. I feel very American. I belong.

In other words, my literary agenda begins by acknowledging that America has transformed me. It does not end until I show how I (and the hundreds of thousands like me) have transformed America.

What was the function of poetry if not to improve the petty, cautious minds of evasive children?

I am a naturalized U.S. citizen, which means that, unlike native-born citizens, I had to prove to the U.S. government that I merited citizenship.

Growing up in an old-fashioned Bengali Hindu family and going to a convent school run by stern Irish nuns, I was brought up to revere rules. Without rules, there was only anarchy.

We do things when it is our time to do them. They do not occur to us until it is time; they cannot be resisted, once their time has come. It's a question of time, not motive.

The opposite of faith isn’t doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.

I’ve learned that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling.

The longer the test the better you feel when it's over.

I would be copping out if I stayed in the myth of the '60s.

There's always criticism in any process and I think that's a healthy thing.

I'm pleased to have outsold great writers. But I'm not insane - I realize I am a writer people buy to take on vacation.

Our parents decided not to teach us Chinese. It was an era when they felt we would be better off if we didn't have that complication.

This criticism is ridiculous. The twenty-five hundreth anniversary celebration cost me less than the inauguration of each new president of the United States.

There is nothing which persevering effort and unceasing and diligent care cannot accomplish.

There are several multiple-witnessed events where humans have been taken on board spacecraft.