Americans tend not to distinguish between political rhetoric and real intentions, which can lead to great misunderstanding.

It's a tradition in Islamic society to issue pardons at the end of Ramadan.

If you are an [American] politician it's very hard to imagine. "Now we are going to treat these guys as our equals? That's ridiculous. What have they ever done to deserve that?"

There's a lack of knowledge about Iran and the Iranian people.

The thing about Iran is there are many political factions and it's not quite the dictatorial, authoritarian state with one person always making every single decision.

Iran is a huge country and much, much more sophisticated than most people imagine... It certainly has the potential to be at least the way Turkey is to most Americans.

The wrong Democratic reaction to a stupid Republican utterance is to play hurt.

I was born in Iran, left at a very young age - less than a year old - and grew up and was educated in the West.

I mean, we do believe in due process in America. I thought we did.

I know that my cell phone in Iran... is bugged, and they listen in, and my emails, I'm sure, are monitored inside Iran. They have my email address; it's not like they can't snoop on it.

Don’t waste time watering a weed hoping to transform it into a flower.

Finally, both of them fell asleep together with their limbs entwined in the eternal position of a lover's embrace.

there is no sin punished more implacably by nature than the sin of resistance to change.

.... When you have no voice, you don't exist

I have always watched the rushes, and have learned more because I have done so, because you can have all manner of ideas in your head, but they have to end up on the screen.

We cannot grow spiritually if we ignore our humanness, just as we cannot become fully human if we ignore our spirituality.

That is [Edward Said] proposal as to how the term should be used. It surely does not describe those who are called "intellectuals" in standard usage, as he would be the first to agree.

This is a place for ordinary human compassion of the kind that is reconciling.