"Each person's life is a story that is telling itself in the living."

“Each department and institution has its own authorities and responsibilities, and they act on that basis. It is wrong to even compare such actions to what is done in Guantanamo or elsewhere by the Americans. They do not stand on a high moral platform to preach to others.”

Source : "Iran's ex-president: U.S should show goodwill". Interview with Barbara Slavin, usatoday30.usatoday.com. February 6, 2005.

“Archives exist because there's something that can't necessarily be articulated. Something is said in the gaps between all the information.”

“Up to and including the moment of exposure, the photographer is working in an undeniably subjective way. By his choice of technical approach, by the selection of the subject matterand by his decision as to the exact cinematic instant of exposure, he is blending the variables of interpretation into an emotional whole.”

“There is nothing positive about being fat. And there is nothing positive about loving yourself. We all need to conform to society's expectations of who we are, because if we don't, who will? Life is more enjoyable when you are thin and pretty. I was never fat a day in my life and I never will.”

“I love Africa in general South Africa and West Africa, they are both great countries.”

“When I was thinking about The Lion King, I said, we have to do what theater does best. What theater does best is to be abstract and not to do literal reality.”

“It's murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it's harder in your life. But it can be done.”

Source : "Alan Arkin: Random Advice from an Older Gentleman". www.esquire.com. January 31, 2013.

“In any nation, the hypocrites do not become apparent except during times of fitnah (severe tests and hardships).”