I am intelligent enough to be critical towards the West and take what I need and reject what is bad for me.

Writing is one of the most ancient forms of prayer. To write is to believe communication is possible that other people are good, that you can awaken their generosity and their desire to do better.

The real mistake of women was to let the memoir, the collective, the history, space of producing history - to let it in the hands of men.

Nature is woman's best friend,' she [Yasmina] often said. 'If you're having troubles, you just swim in the water, stretch out in a field, or look up at the stars. That's how a woman cures her fears'.

Being frozen into the passive position of an object whose very existence depends on the eye of its beholder turn the educated modern Western women into a harem slave.

Maturity is when you start feeling the motion of zaman (time) as if it is a sensuous caress. p.216

Pessimism is the luxury of the powerful.

I, as a Muslim woman living in 1993, I want to have two things - the mosque and the satellite, both at the same time. And no one can mutilate me by telling me I cannot have the mosque or the Koran.

Morocco is such a beautiful place. It's incredibly beautiful. And also it is captivating place because for a writer, you feel that you make impact.

Someone else is going to read for me or go at my place to the mosque, and/or to tell me you shouldn't take anything from the West because the West is the enemy and so on. It is to me to decide.

But when your situation is hopeless, all you can do is turn the world upside down, transform it according to your wishes, and create anew.

I really don't follow a strict diet I just watch my fat intake and stay away from fried foods.

Civilization could not exist until there was written language, because without written language no generation could bequeath to succeeding generations anything but its simpler findings.

Be mindful of the words that you use and the actions that you live and who you are and how it is you use your power. Keep clear at all times that you are what you say you are.

The smell of her hair, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her skin seemed to have got inside him, or into the air all round him. She had become a physical necessity.

Generals cannot be trusted with anything, not even with war.

I've been making the recordings for a long time, and I have tons and tons of them. I'm like a digital hoarder or something - everything is on like hard drives and whatever.

Some travelers think they want to go to foreign places but are dismayed when the places turn out actually to be foreign.

Even in this world where you’re getting everything you need and having this nice life, there’s still loneliness and longing and disconnection.

Never ask what sort of computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If not, why embarrass him?

The only women I publicly date are those who have a higher IMDB rating than me.