One of the Baathists once told me, "If you're not careful, I'll have you put away," and those words meant death.

Knowledge and imagination are the life buoy and the extra lung for breathing outside the walls of a tainted reality.

I'm talking about the essence of humanity. Hope is mixed into the blood of every human being, everywhere and in every time.

It's ridiculous and painful to use the Arabic of an Iraqi poet who lived centuries ago to describe what we in Iraq are suffering today.

I studied at the Academy during the years of economic sanctions. Life was almost dead because the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the civilized world were so strict.

We in Iraq have not descended from another planet. Just as people in many other countries have gotten over the tragedy of war, Iraq will get over its ordeal.

In fact I didn't think about fear much at the time. I felt angry about everything that was happening around me: the violence of the dictatorship and the violence of society.

The trail of "secret migration" was a shock to me. I knew a little about the difficulties, just bits of news in the media.

I still write in literary Arabic but I try to rid it of the rhetoric, the symbolism, and the stuff that ordinary people don't understand.

I didn't start publishing literary texts until I had left Iraq. At the Academy [of Cinematic Arts] I was busy with short films.

You learn something from the classics but your feelings and your imagination operate in the domain of the colloquial. We need to think seriously about reforming the Arabic that we use today.

From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.

Your vision helps the world identify you at the appropriate time.

Mental understanding cannot change our life, unless it becomes real understanding.

A day is a miniature eternity.

People who try to define their spirituality sometimes are annoying, 'cause the spirit is something you feel and let guide you and humbly respect.

He who gives love will receive a thousandfold in return.

writers who go outside the lines when they draw pictures of the world are seldom rewarded for their efforts.

Everything is evil that humans can't control or conquer

I can't think of anything I can't stand the taste of less than brussels sprouts.

I never stole nuttin' unless it began with an 'A' - A truck, a car, a payroll...!