"America was based on a poetic vision. What will happen when it loses its poetry?"

"When I first left Iran at the age of 13, Iran had become such a shining star - it was the point to which all my desires and dreams returned."

"Once we know of atrocities we cannot remain silent, and knowledge inevitably leads to an urge to protect the innocent."

"This is a good time to ask apologists for the Islamic regime, who degrades Islam? Who imposes stoning, forced marriage of underage girls and flogging for not wearing the veil? Do such practices represent Iran's ancient history and culture, its ethnic and religious diversity? Its centuries of sensual and subversive poetry?"

"When a man goes through six years training to be a doctor he will never be the same. He knows too much."

"If you really want change, you really want it to be inclusive, where everyone's included, otherwise you're just going to have more of the same in the future."

"The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it - oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible."

"I'm not a real movie star. I've still got the same wife I started out with twenty-eight years ago."