My music doesn't exist in a vacuum; there's a script and there's an actor and it's about to come together.

The first question [American college kids] asked me was, 'What state is Kuwait in?' They thought Kuwait was in America.

If you've ever seen album covers for Arab female pop stars, it looks like the designer was paid five dollars to make them, and the extreme femaleness is astounding.

I'm fascinated by evil queens. They're very alluring and repellent at the same time, and I'm into that dichotomy.

The vast majority of women musicians function under singular names like 'Cher' 'Madonna'. They have to get married almost immediately to preserve their honour.

There are very few pop people I'm interested in working with.

I feel like there is an emphasis against teaching geography in American schools. Americans don't say, "I'm going to Germany." They say, "I'm going to Europe."

I was one of five out of 100 people who passed the test, which just proved to me how little Americans are taught geography.

I've never been to China. I only know what the West is telling me about China.

I had a story-telling mother; she's written novels and short stories. So I feel like maybe I'm staying alive by telling tales.

I still think you people need to be curious [in order to absorb the culture]. You need to search Uzbekistani pop music.

The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.

Never misuse your God-given opportunities, it may be the path to fulfilling your destiny.

That's how I like to do it with actors, have them really go for it and I'll tell them when it's too much. It's always easier to bring it back then to push it further.

Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.

It's always better to go personal and painful than to go big.

Harmony is when the sum is greater than the parts. A happy exaggeration.

Everything I'm not makes me everything I am

Trust me, I'm going to find out where the money has gone and how it has been spent, and see if we can't get it down there quicker to let that rebuilding start.

Acting is not that far from mental disease: An actor works on splitting his character into others. It is like a kind of schizophrenia.

There is a day of sunny rest For every dark and troubled night; And grief may hide an evening guest, But joy shall come with early light.