When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.

Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.

Good memories are our second chance at happiness.

I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

Family does not necessarily mean blood relatives but often a description of a community, organisation or nation.

It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of humankind.

I have to be seen to be believed.

We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained.

They are not royal. They just happen to have me as their aunt.

I let go of fear and immerse myself in the endless wash of love.

They were perfectly suited. They would speak of books the livelong day and night and bore everyone else but themselves to distraction.

To flee from sin is to retain heaven on earth

Whatever success people have in a field, it's a result of hard work. If you ultimately succeed in one place, you must have worked hard there or somewhere else.

Maybe miracles are given not to prove anything, but simply to remind us that the physical world is not so solid and real and dependable as we think.

Poetry is a popular genre in Afghanistan. If you turned on the radio, there would be a poetry program that would be as popular as The Real Housewives.

Half-truths are like half a brick - they can be thrown farther.

For a bill to become law, it truly has to be the will of the people, and for a president to stop the will of the people and stop what you're trying to do in your state is not the role of Washington.

The nations that offer to arbitrate are the ones that think they should rule the world.

It's really a misconception to identify the writer with the main character, given that the author creates all the characters in the book. In certain ways, I'm every character.