Two young doctors - one from Harvard and the other from Dartmouth - invited me to go to Mecca in my husband's stead. And that is what helped put me back on track.

Malcolm was a firm believer in the value and importance of our heritage. He believed that we have valuable and distinct cultural traditions which need to be institutionalized so that they can be passed on to our heirs.

I looked over and saw this man on the extreme right aisle sort of galloping to the podium. He was tall, he was thin, and the way he was galloping it looked as though he was going someplace much more important than the podium.

Two young doctors - one from Harvard and the other from Dartmouth - invited me to go to Mecca in my husband's stead. And that is what helped put me back on track.

Two young doctors - one from Harvard and the other from Dartmouth - invited me to go to Mecca in my husband's stead. And that is what helped put me back on track.

We can just keep doing it the way we're doing it. We can attack everybody for small-minded things and crush everybody with a new idea. And where are we going to be? Where we are now - behind. Or we can embrace new things and try to be positive and let everybody play a role.

I live in a rural residential area. It's a great place for a walk. I'm at my happiest when I'm listening to my iPod while walking around where my feet take me.

Down with Dukes of Hazzard!

I once knew a guy that everyone called Trodon because his face looked like it had been trod on.

The BAFTAs give the British point of view, and the Oscars give the American point of view, but the truth is we're all working in an international industry.

I love writing plays because they are living, fluid things that are energised by the producer, designers, musicians, actors and audience.

I try to catch them right on the tip of his nose, because I try to punch the bone into the brain.

When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses.

The little imperfections are what make people special.

Because I've never had any higher education of any sort, I've never held in awe those who have had it or have a sense of superiority over those who don't.

I like books that are exciting and that make you think about things as well.

I feel like I've got a novel in me somewhere, but that's something... I was just talking to a buddy of mine about it, who's a writer as well, and he's nearly done with his first novel, and it's taken him 11, 12 years to do it. And I can totally understand; it's a long process.

The rise of the Tea Party, along with the emergence of Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada, Carl Paladino in New York and Ron Paul in Kentucky, is not the first time in American history that voters have responded to hard economic times by supporting angry, unorthodox Senate and gubernatorial candidates.

Some of the routines come back very easily. We do it off the top of our heads.

Environmental spending creates jobs in engineering, manufacturing, construction, materials, operations and maintenance.

And can it be that in a world so full and busy the loss of one creature makes a void so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth of eternity can fill it up!

Over the course of my life, I have made many transitions - most of them taking me further away from my Somali roots and steadily toward the enlightened mentality of Western democracy.

I bleed Dodger blue!

Immortality may be impossible, but imagine what humanity could learn if we all lived 700 years. We could travel deep into utopia and beyond.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?

In terms of sheer writing I might have done most of my work by 11. If you get up at 6:30 or 7 you can get a huge amount done by 11 and have the rest of the day off if you want to, though I have to check my accumulating e-mails. No one ever sends me horrible e-mails. Although some of my books are supposed to be hated, no one ever tells me.

When we feel, a kind of lyric is sung in our heart. When we think, a kind of music is played in our mind. In harmony, both create a beautiful symphony of life.

When I settled to writing seriously, which would be in my 30s, I did expect to be published eventually, but my aspirations weren't very high. A published book and a few appreciative readers was my idea of heaven.

I was weaned on chicken-fried steak and hominy grits with goopy gravy all over. I loved meat and wore fur.