I wash the clothes, rinse them and then scrub them again. Will that square little box do that? I am not using any fancy machines when my hands will do.

Where are the coconut trees bowing allegiance to the wind, the wide open spaces, the verdant green fields?

But he’s an untouchable, Shirin.’ ‘He’s my Untouchable Prince Charming, then. Only I am allowed to touch him.

There’s a great drought in my village. People are dying. The price of rice and pulses has rocketed. There is no water anywhere. And here, people are complaining about the rain...

What am I doing here, Reena? Why am I dancing to the tunes of that old hag?’‘You are saving your family.

Sometimes, it is easier to leave things as they are, rather than to fight, go against the flow.

What wouldn’t my people give for a few bites of the biryani she ordered me to throw away yesterday because she said it smelt?

Every family has secrets, Reena, and they’re there for a reason.

You put cow dung on my face?’ ‘Every day religiously until you were three. Why else do you think your skin is so clear?

What better hiding place than an old, woodlice-ridden album of photographs!

It wasn’t playing both sides of the fence – it was betting against yourself but still playing to win – and it encapsulated everything absurd and paradoxical that I loved about the French.

It is while you are patiently toiling at the little tasks of life that the meaning and shape of the great whole of life dawn on you.

The key to breaking the Taliban taboo against women and the cultural brainwashing that the Taliban imposed upon many Afghans is to get women back into the workforce.

Politicians don't create jobs.

True religion and virtue give a cheerful and happy turn to the mind, admit of all true pleasures, and even procure for us the highest.

A good teacher is one who helps you become who you feel yourself to be. A good teacher is also one who says something that you won't understand until 10 years later.

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.

I have no regrets. I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. There's nothing more that I need to do.

We can not play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.

Not long after I published my first book, I quickly found I was terrible at being interviewed.