"My father's from Pakistan and he has been a secularist all his life. In the Pakistani context, there's no messing with religion. There's been a battle for the soul of Pakistan since 1947 and I have grown up without any illusions about the dangers of religious power in the context of a country like Pakistan."

“Genius requires an audience.”

“I at least want to keep having fun, and the rest we will see.”

“And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to guide them along So maybe I'll see you there We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares, and go Downtown, things'll be great when you're Downtown, don't wait a minute more Downtown, everything's waiting for you”

Source : "Song: "Downtown" ("Downtown")". 1965.

“The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight.”

“Love is giving up your needs for the sake of someone else, in some other words its sacrifice”

“The gift of The Giver is something good and true and beautiful about what is good and true and beautiful in humanity.”

“Political corruption is to Rhode Islanders as smog is to people who live in Los Angeles: nobody complains of its absence, but when it rolls around everyone feels right at home.”

Source : "Can You Forgive Him?" by Philip Gourevitch, www.newyorker.com. September 2, 2002.

“Painting constantly appeared to me as the one and only possible achievement.”

Source : Max Beckmann, Barbara Copeland Buenger (1997). “Self-Portrait in Words: Collected Writings and Statements, 1903-1950”, p.307, University of Chicago Press