From 7 in the morning to 11 at night, I was reading. I don't think one can find any other time in one's life to be left alone so much to read in peace like that.

Because there is so little room for expression otherwise, a lot of people love cinema because they find it a way of expressing themselves.

From my films, you can at least learn about Iran, you can get a sense of the history and the society. But no such films have been made about Afghanistan, so you really can't know much about it.

I was in jail four and a half years. When I came out, I continued the same struggle against injustice, but instead of using weapons, I began to use art and cinema.

The Buddhas had to be destroyed by the Taliban to get the world thinking about Afghanistan.

Afghan society is very complex, and Afghanistan has a very complex culture. Part of the reason it has remained unknown is because of this complexity.

I myself had to grow a longer beard and Afghan clothes. I was in danger of being kidnapped by smugglers, though I didn't know it at the time.

Usually people like to categorise artists. With my films, I categorise people: if I know which one of my movies you like, I can tell which kind of a person you are.

Do you know that every day, 10 people in Afghanistan are injured by landmines? It will continue for the next 50 years, because the country has the largest number of landmines in the world.

But also, there are no films being made about Afghanistan.

There's an 800 kilometer border between Iran and Afghanistan.

Every time you invite a candidate to interview, you should expect to be interviewed, too.

I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day. And I have asked to be where no storms come.

Smeagol won't grub for roots and carrotses and - taters. What's taters, precious, eh, what's taters?""Po-ta-toes!" said Sam.

Platypus? I thought it was pronounced platymapus. Has it always been pronounced platypus?

Failures, repeated failures, are finger-prints on the road to achievement. .

I teach my students that you can't be a journalist if you are going to be judgmental. If you have a judgmental nuance as you pose a question, people will close down.

Being single, I thought would be fun, but it is terribly boring. And I am a romantic, but only when I am in love. I can't force it otherwise.

The earth is Godʹs golf ball.

It is a very important consideration that we are consecrated and dedicated to God; it means that we may think, speak, meditate, or do anything only with a view to his glory.

Politicians need human misery. ... Government's a disease masquerading as its own cure.