Do not ever threaten an Afghan with violence. We will rise as one and we will face every threat the way we have taken on thousands of previous armies and conquerors.

We live in an interconnected world, and you cannot prevent people from leaving. What you need to do is to create opportunities. At the same time, people are also coming back.

When windows shatter through a bomb, we will repair it next week because we are Afghans. That's the spirit.

We could form a government of national unity fighting corruption. The ordinary Afghan is sick and tired of it, because it's she or he that pays the price.

The job of an elected president is to overcome the past and change the playing field.

Peace is a national issue, not only government's responsibility.

We will not let the price of peace be greater than the price of war, we will firmly safeguard the achievements of the past 13 years under former President Karzai.

It [terrorism] happened because intelligence, leadership and police failures made it possible.

The most significant thing is public participation. That assures the Afghan public that our promises are not empty.

Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas.

Terrorism attacks peoples' trust in the system of their state. There is protection, but only if there is collective action and collective understanding about how to really deal with this phenomenon.

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

I am made of words. Cut me & I bleed sentences. Read me, & I speak to your soul.

If you love someone and they vanish, you are left nodding like a zombie and throwing teacups at a wall.

And once again, only the Small Things were said. The Big Things lurked unsaid inside.

Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.

I love children, but I don't think I can eat a whole one.- Bumper sticker

We believe in healthy, hearty laughter -- at the expense of the whole human race, if needs be. Needs be.

(Sometimes when) someone's directing for the first time, they're afraid to include everyone - they have to prove they're the director.

Budget the luxuries first.

If we don't cut expensive things like Head Start, child nutrition programs, and teachers, what sort of future are we leaving for our children?