I think most good poetry is about suffering; I think that's what underlies the love in these landays pieces - suffering and longing.

We know what war means, and we know what poverty means. We need to develop a better model for reaching out to the world than we have.

The truth is, terrorism flourishes in places of injustice rather than in places of poverty.

You can't be wrong in journalism. Take a wrong turn in journalism, and you are writing fiction. You can take a wrong turn in poetry, and something wonderful can happen.

Poetry allows me to write about what I don't know, whereas journalism demands a higher level of certainty to be worthy of being written.

I worked with two young women translators. One died and the other received a death threat from the Taliban.

The power of the voice in rap is about the expression of truth, rather than the expression of some kind of artifice.

In most of the world, poetry has such a different reputation than it does in Western culture.

Poetry is a popular genre in Afghanistan. If you turned on the radio, there would be a poetry program that would be as popular as The Real Housewives.

Poetry isn't as relevant in the Western world as it is in Afghanistan. And not many people make time for something that doesn't feel relevant.

I can't imagine how Afghanistan's fall isn't going to be ten times faster than Iraq's.

Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.

Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.

The best way to keep something bad from happening is to see it ahead of time... and you can't see it if you refuse to face the possibility.

I do not care what I labeled, as long as I am heard.

These violent delights have violent endsAnd in their triump die, like fire and powderWhich, as they kiss, consume

So like a forgotten fire a childhood can always flare up again within us.

I read passionately with a need to know and see the act of reading as an act of cognition and not simply a means of passing time.

I have a long-lasting gratitude and trust for what UNICEF does.

Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.

A thief is like a person who has been dead from the start.