My family thought if I spent time in the military, I'd become more reasonable, a bit calmer. But I've always been extreme in what I do - both as a believer and a nonbeliever.

The future belongs to us. I think that art is a force that can change the world.

Nothing is allowed in public, while everything is permitted behind closed doors.

I believe in freedom, I'm for a world without borders. But that's an ideal. On a practical level, I'm for a secular state where religion only plays a minor role.

The most important element of democracy, I believe, is the protection of minorities.

I was a very devout boy and one day I heard the music of an Egyptian Koran singer in the mosque. The melancholy of this music touched me so deeply that it brought me to tears.

Fundamentalists can't take a joke. Ever. They want us to blindly obey, parrot everything they do, and believe in their dogmas.

I'm a musician; I have to perform. I can't give up. I have to be even more courageous. We know that we have a lot of enemies. Not only in Iran. But that doesn't matter.

I lived in the world of poetry and ideas. I thought life was all about art and philosophy. In the military, I suddenly found out about the real world.

Stop wasting while waiting.....continue acting.

It is better for you to love than hate.

I think that is what film and art and music do

Fantasy is an excellent platform to shine new lights on old truths.

I didn't really want to be a teacher, but there was nothing else I could be. Most of those who went to the university became teachers. It was just the racial restriction on Africans.

s a scene of changes, and to be constant in Nature were inconstancy.

Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.

Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through anyone that suits you.

The bite of existence did not cut into one in Hollywood.

Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa