“When we're afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. Our fear paralyzes us. Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.”

“They found records and video-cassettes at their place, a deck of cards, a chess set. In other words, everything that's banned.”

“I want to be justice, love and the wrath of God all in one.”

“In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bit...”

“I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor.”

“The regime had understood that one person leaving her house while asking herself: Are my trousers long enough?Is my veil in place?Can my make-up be seen?Are they going to whip me?No longer asks her...”

“No matter how exotic or seemingly different another man is, there's always some reflection of self in another male.”

“If anything has made men more effeminate in the past half-century, it's been the running feminist critique of masculinity.”

“The natural gods of men are other men, mythic or real, who embody manhood in men's eyes.”

“There are many things that make a man irritable when he arrives home from work in the evening and a sensible wife will usually notice the storm-signals and will leave him alone until he simmers down.”

“Oblivion, she thought. That was the world she lived in. It was what they should name some countries, towns, and places.”

“A lot of men wouldn't like being called a romantic. It's not macho enough.'Quite often men are fools.”

“Is there shame in living off your fellow man or being unable to take care ofyourself? You bet. But a person whos willing to work and pay their own waycan at least take pride in that even if they ca...”

“A true encounter with the living God will break the spirit of religiosity, empty man of his pride and conform even the most vile and wicked into a living vessel for His glory.”

“He has come to the most dreadful conclusion a literary man can come to, the conclusion that the ordinary view is the right one. It is only the last and wildest kind of courage that can stand on a t...”