I don't believe I could live in Iran again. A tree, once uprooted from the earth, is very difficult to plant again.

For me, Iran was paradise, and I believe it's a paradise still, but only if you don't have political problems. If you have a political problem, paradise turns into hell.

I'm coming out of the belly of Iran. It was the only place I was free. It's funny - when I say that, everyone is like, 'What? Freedom?' But the freedom I felt in Iran I've never felt anywhere else. Freedom of mind, freedom of time, of spirit. But after a while, you're so wounded that if you continue thinking about Iran, it will kill you.

I had to tell people I was not born with a scarf because I came out Iran. People think you came out of your mother with a scarf; they can't imagine that the scarf is not stuck to your head.

I've become pretty philosophical about a lot of things, including death. It doesn't get to me.

Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.

Being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation after you cease to struggle.

Man has the possibility of existence after death. But possibility is one thing and the realization of the possibility is quite a different thing.