I was born in Iran, left at a very young age - less than a year old - and grew up and was educated in the West.

It's a tradition in Islamic society to issue pardons at the end of Ramadan.

If you are an [American] politician it's very hard to imagine. "Now we are going to treat these guys as our equals? That's ridiculous. What have they ever done to deserve that?"

Americans tend not to distinguish between political rhetoric and real intentions, which can lead to great misunderstanding.

There's a lack of knowledge about Iran and the Iranian people.

The thing about Iran is there are many political factions and it's not quite the dictatorial, authoritarian state with one person always making every single decision.

Iran is a huge country and much, much more sophisticated than most people imagine... It certainly has the potential to be at least the way Turkey is to most Americans.

The wrong Democratic reaction to a stupid Republican utterance is to play hurt.

I mean, we do believe in due process in America. I thought we did.

I know that my cell phone in Iran... is bugged, and they listen in, and my emails, I'm sure, are monitored inside Iran. They have my email address; it's not like they can't snoop on it.

Fashion is like life. It needs fear and uncertainty if you are to move forward.

Confidence is a plant of slow growth.

All the physical comes from the mental.

I like to imagine, if I was in the 1930s and was rich and a psychopathic killer, I probably would be moving about very freely and having a lot of fun.

My hair has never been my greatest feature, so that was funny enough unto itself that my hair became so focused on.

A band is only as good as its euphonium section.

I remember when the wave of Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek and these beautiful Hispanic women came into light, and I looked up to them and I loved them, but I was like, 'Where are Middle Eastern women?'

The military played polo. Polo, really, started as a game to train for war.

I have married thriteen couples. I'm about to do a marriage next month.

For me, if I don't know how to express it with words, I do it with music.