Did you know— then?” asked Harry. “Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time? No.
I've always prided myself on my discipline as a writer. I do it like a job. I get up in the morning and go to my desk.
Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.
Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, power to retell it, to rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.
The only people who see the whole picture,' he murmured, 'are the ones who step out of the frame.
Perhaps the story you finish is never the one you begin.
I reluctantly concluded that there was no way for me to help bring into being the Muslim culture I'd dreamed of, the progressive, irreverent, skeptical, argumentative, playful and unafraid culture which is what I've always understood as freedom. . . . Actually Existing Islam. . . which makes literalism a weapon and redescription a crime, will never let the likes of me in.
I am very glad I have travelled. Travel improves the mind wonderfully, and does away with all one's prejudices.
Success is never an accident. It typically starts as imagination, becomes a dream, stimulates a goal, grows into a plan of action - which then inevitably meets with opportunity. Don't get stuck along the way.
When a virtuous man is raised, it brings gladness to his friends, grief to his enemies, and glory to his posterity.
Sometimes I may be totally arrogant, sometimes I may totally be the most humble guy you've ever met, sometimes I may be in between. But that's life. Who isn't like that? What's the big deal if I had an arrogant moment.