I've never been to China. I only know what the West is telling me about China.

The first question [American college kids] asked me was, 'What state is Kuwait in?' They thought Kuwait was in America.

If you've ever seen album covers for Arab female pop stars, it looks like the designer was paid five dollars to make them, and the extreme femaleness is astounding.

I'm fascinated by evil queens. They're very alluring and repellent at the same time, and I'm into that dichotomy.

The vast majority of women musicians function under singular names like 'Cher' 'Madonna'. They have to get married almost immediately to preserve their honour.

There are very few pop people I'm interested in working with.

I feel like there is an emphasis against teaching geography in American schools. Americans don't say, "I'm going to Germany." They say, "I'm going to Europe."

I was one of five out of 100 people who passed the test, which just proved to me how little Americans are taught geography.

I had a story-telling mother; she's written novels and short stories. So I feel like maybe I'm staying alive by telling tales.

My music doesn't exist in a vacuum; there's a script and there's an actor and it's about to come together.

I still think you people need to be curious [in order to absorb the culture]. You need to search Uzbekistani pop music.

Life is beautiful. Death is astonishing.And love is the just breaths taken in between

I'll change the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology.

Some people think I enjoy debate. I don't. I wish everyone agreed with me; it would save a lot of time.

I realized that with hard work, the world was your oyster. You could do anything you wanted to do.

... the man in the violent situation reveals those qualities least dispensable in his personality, those qualities which are all he will have to take into eternity with him.

The church lives because it witholds the results of the historical Jesus-research from you

It's fun to play the type of people you dislike.

Anybody who can step out of the house with a pair of heels and some lipstick on their lips is my hero.

Shoes must have very high heels and platforms to put women's beauty on a pedestal.