You can't be wrong in journalism. Take a wrong turn in journalism, and you are writing fiction. You can take a wrong turn in poetry, and something wonderful can happen.

We know what war means, and we know what poverty means. We need to develop a better model for reaching out to the world than we have.

The truth is, terrorism flourishes in places of injustice rather than in places of poverty.

I think most good poetry is about suffering; I think that's what underlies the love in these landays pieces - suffering and longing.

Poetry allows me to write about what I don't know, whereas journalism demands a higher level of certainty to be worthy of being written.

I worked with two young women translators. One died and the other received a death threat from the Taliban.

The power of the voice in rap is about the expression of truth, rather than the expression of some kind of artifice.

In most of the world, poetry has such a different reputation than it does in Western culture.

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.

Poetry isn't as relevant in the Western world as it is in Afghanistan. And not many people make time for something that doesn't feel relevant.

I can't imagine how Afghanistan's fall isn't going to be ten times faster than Iraq's.

Service to humanity has no alternative

Not only is your own happiness and welfare related to others, but the more you help them, the happier you will be.

If history is really relevant in today's world, the proposition doesn't command much respect. Perhaps the past is a different country, but if so no one much wants to travel there.

Going to a women's college made a big difference. It gave me the sense women could run things... and I just never thought that it made sense to give that up.

Young Americans today are no more learned or skilful than their predecessors, no more knowledgeable, fluent, up-to-date, or inquisitive, except in the materials of youth culture.

Seek truth while you are young, for if you do not, it will later escape your grasp

The system is wrong where it rewards the lack of interest in work with money, so you don't have to work.

I was very, very inspired [by movies].

Tradition: how the vitality of the past enriches the life of the present.

I mostly gave away what I had from the James Bond movie.