Literature helps us transcend ourselves.

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.

A relationship that is not actively nurtured dies out eventually, I told myself. Or does it?

I've played so many historical characters because most horrible dictators are short, fat, middle-aged men.

When my hair was shorter, I used to get it done every couple of days... but I got tired of that.

When people campaign for positions, they promise people all kinds of things.

Everything when I was a kid was illustrated.

If we attach more importance to what other people believe than to what we know to be true - if we value belonging over being - we will not attain authenticity.

When you really have the preparation time and things start taking the shape that they need, you have a beautiful feeling that comes from the hard work.

However toplofty and idealistic a man may be, he can always rationalize his right to earn money.

Why doesn’t the fattest man in the world become a hockey goalie?

This country was a lot better off when the Indians were running it.