I really do believe that people surprise you. And one of the powerful things about novels is that they're about characters, and those characters live their lives.

Childbirth changed my perception of my wife. She was now the bloodied special forces soldier who had fought and risked everything for our family.

Islam is not a race, yet Islamophobia partakes of racist characteristics.

Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.

It seems an obvious thing to say, but you should not imagine that we Pakistanis are all potential terrorists, just as we should not imagine that you Americans are all undercover assassins.

I think sometimes feeling that you've been marginalized opens you up to the realization that, in their own lives, almost everyone experiences marginalization, a kind of foreigner sense.

All human stories are migration stories because everyone is a refugee from their own childhood.

Time only moves in one direction. Remember that. Things always change.

I think massive migration is inevitable. As sea levels rise, as climate change happens, as fertile fields become arid, as wars are fought, people are going to move. They always have.

When the uncertain future becomes the past, the past in turn becomes uncertain.

It's important to have a non-nostalgic view and say, let's look forward, because if we don't, all we'll hear are voices telling us to go back.

If you like the stuff I do, my chances of liking you go up.

The Balkanization of the media means that nobody is having a single conversation with a single set of agreed-upon facts and assumptions the way you had as recently as the 90s.

My hard work finally catching up with perfect timing

One cannot deny that if a person has the energy to get you interested and excited, then that is half the battle won, like all the great leaders had this quality.

From now on, match me with one guy at a time.

If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don't watch it, you start showing off. And then you're not as good any more.

I'm grateful for any opportunity to act.

Without impact, innovation is just an idea with promise.

The phrases and language used everyday in an organization can in fact affect the way your team makes decisions and conducts themselves.

And there are people that will stand in your corner and convince you to stand up for another round no matter what.