Western conception of history has had great consequences over the last two hundred years. You see it in the invasion of Iraq. You see it in almost everything that is said and done.

Gandhi saw how people have to re-think their own individuality before engaging in political activity. Otherwise they're just playing the game that the adversary has set out.

In America, you don't even have proper holidays. It's really one of the most prosperous slave societies in history. People work their asses off all year long and get two weeks off! It's incredible.

The people who encouraged me weren't necessarily writers or readers themselves. They were people who were just pleased to see me devote my life to reading and writing.

I found it really disturbing to see a novelist writing a diatribe about Islam and Muslim radical extremists, blurring the distinction between the two.

The idea that human beings can make history, that is something quite unique to the modern West.

We need to infuse politics with ideas like compassion and empathy, and a sense that we live in an interdependent world.

The asymmetries of power that have shaped relations between the West and the rest of the world also exist in the realm of literary criticism.

Most suffering is human-made and avoidable. It's mostly in your head.

Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee great literature.

In the modern world, nationalism remains a very important force. We delude ourselves into thinking that globalization has made all of that redundant and that everyone just wants to be like America.

The Truth is first rejected. Then finally accepted.

Everyone else reached the Shores of Sleep, but I remained oceans away.

Out there is South Dakota, " Kitch had said, "Matt said they treated Fern like some kind of animal.

I'm a true-crime addict. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but I can't stop.

Fortune confounds the wise, And when they least expect it turns the dice.

The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.

Hollywood was like a mouse being followed by a cat called television.

She taught you how to be a person who refuses anything but the meaningful.

I'm a real 'go, go' person... I'd make myself crazy by pushing too hard. It's important to pull pack the reins a little bit and get in touch with what's inside.

Ideas for work are coming to me in abundance...I'm going like a painting-locomotive.