Every new refugee to a society, whether it's the United States or some other place, is subjected to fear. They are the new outsider population, the new other.

In the United States, the immigrant experience occupies a very central place in American mythology. And sometimes, that place wavers between acceptance and rejection.

Immigrants, as troubling as they are to some people, are an integral part of what the American Dream is supposed to be. They're understandable to a considerable number of Americans.

People might like to think a war is done when a cease fire is signed, but for most people who lived through a war it goes on for decades.

Writers from the majority can assume their audiences know what they're talking about - they don't have to explain things, whereas minority writers are expected to.

My identity is deeply intertwined with being a refugee because that's the first experience that I remember.

I never called myself a writer because it seemed so pretentious - a writer was what somebody else called you, a title bestowed.

I've never stopped being a refugee.

Hollywood in many ways serves as the unofficial ministry of propaganda for the United States.

If you're a so-called minority writer, the temptation is to write for the majority... I refuse to do that.

No one wants for their child to become a refugee. It's an awful experience.

Haters' don't hate you, they hate self and project the energy outward because there is no courage to confront internal fears. Therefore, ignore hate or else it becomes you, also.

Even that some people try deceived me many times ... I will not fail to believe that somewhere, someone deserves my trust.

Look inside yourself and you'll find a world of things (a world of your own experiences)worth writing about.

What tender force, what dignity divine, what virtue consecrating every feature; around that neck what dross are gold and pearl!

Achilles exists only through Homer . Take away the art of writing from this world , and you will probably take away its glory .

[When people] say 'let's do something about it,' they mean 'let's get hold of the political machinery so that we can do something to somebody else.' And that somebody is invariably you.

It was an unspoken pleasure, that having come together so many years, ruined so much and repaired a little, we had endured.

The school had a big problem with drugs... especially Class A.

Many people thought that riding for a new team and racing on a brand new bike would be a lot to overcome.

The secret is to moisturize the face. I've been doing that since I was 17 years old. (on looking young)