A great deal of what is presumed to be intractable or inevitable in this world doesn't strike me that way at all.

But if writing about people who are not yourself is illegitimate, then the only legitimate work is autobiography; and as a reader and a citizen, I don’t want to live in that world.

...much of what was said did not matter, and that much of what mattered could not be said.

In any country, corruption tends to increase when more respectable means of social advancement break down.

I'm useless when I meet writers I love - I go slack-jawed and stupid with awe.

We often have an exaggerated sense of what nonprofits and governments are doing to help the poor, but the really inspiring thing is how much the poor are doing to help themselves.

One thing that was very clear to me is that the young people in a place like Annawadi aren't tripping on caste the way their parents are. They know their parents have these old views.

I think it's this congenital problem with journalism that we oversell the difference we make. We make small differences.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Never trust anyone who tells you how people come to trust them.

.. becoming attached to a country involves pressing, uncomfortable questions about justice and opportunity for its least powerful citizens.

I tell Allah I love Him immensely, immensely. But I tell Him I cannot be better, because of how the world is.

I loved the story but also enjoyed the format of the book, which includes e-mail messages. Janice L. Jones

Repentance is the highest form of worship that a man can give to God.

Our greatest currency is our time and we cannot save it. Spend it wisely and never waste another's or your own.

We oppose the reactionary policies of the U.S. government but we do not oppose the American people. We want to have many good friends in the United States.

Having an avatar doesn't give you an identity, and having a persona online doesn't make you a personality either.

We must see Christ in the disturbing disguise of the poor.

This is the value for me of writing books that children read. Children aren't interested in your appalling self-consciousness. They want to know what happens next. They force you to tell a story.

We teach mental literacy and radiant thinking; a revolution in human thought.

Often whole days pass without my speaking to anyone, except to ask for diner or coffee. And it has been like that form the beginning.