Maybe this was my punishment, and perhaps justly so. 'It wasn't meant to be', Khala Jamila had said. Or, maybe, it was meant not to be.

And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

There is only one sin. and that is theft... when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth.

People say that eyes are windows to the soul.

If there's a God out there, then i would hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork.

Time can be a greedy thing-sometimes it steals the details for itself.

I finally had what I'd wantes all those years. Except now that I had it, i felt as empty as this unkempt pool I was dangling my legs into.

Your job today is to pass gas. You do that and we can start feeding you liquids. No fart, no food.

Sad stories make good books

In the end, the world always wins. That's just the way of things.

Years later, I learned an English word for the creature that Assef was, a word for which a good Farsi equivalent does not exist: sociopath.

My reasons to liveWere my reasons to dieBut at least they were mineNow I've freedom unboundCut the laces of life

A person who can understand, appreciate, and sing along with a tree has a deeper perception on life.

She sighed. Men were a pain.

You must develop personal contacts if you want to be successful.

I have no relationship to Russia whatsoever.

Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out.

Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast.

When the heart is sick it cannot bear the slightest annoyance.

You will find it easier to accept contrary views, knowing that you are not defined by anything or anyone external to yourself.

Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.