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I write fiction that reflects Islamic logic: fictional worlds where cause and effect are governed by Muslim rationale. However, my characters do not necessarily behave as 'good' Muslims; they are not ideals or role models.


Leila Aboulela

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I write fiction not for my readers and not for myself. I write fiction for the sake of those odd her...
NICHOLAS TRANDAHL I might not write fiction in the literary sense. But I write very well. My characters are good. My d...
JOY FIELDING I am careful about fiction. A novel is not a tract or an essay. If I want to write about land reform...
VIKRAM SETH I write literary, not commercial, fiction - or so I've been told by my publishers who are proud ...
TAWNI O'DELL 'Muslim' is not a political party. 'Muslim' is not a single culture. Muslims go to w...
MAAJID NAWAZ Parents must lead by example. Don't use the cliche; do as I say and not as I do. We are our chil...
LEE HANEY Students do not have many role models who use language well. They are very much into rap and movies ...
MARILYN JACKSON Role models set goals for you and try to make you as good as they are. Role models are important.
KASEY ZACHARIAS My role models are people who can do things; I say to myself, 'I wish I could do that.'
QUEEN RANIA OF JORDAN I think a fictional invention grows according to its own development, not the author's. Characte...
CYNTHIA OZICK My parents are good role models because they've worked hard and gave me a happy childhood.
SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR Take me to the height where success would seek my help to succeed!
I ARE I like strong female characters. I try to write them as role models for young girls.
L. J. SMITH Because I write fiction, I don't write autobiography, and to me they are very different things. ...
KATE ATKINSON I'll write about myself, or people I know, or archetypal characters, but the goal is to get at s...
CONOR OBERST You just don't see Muslims being matter-of-fact Muslim. They're always defined by their Musl...
KUMAIL NANJIANI No one is willing to believe that adults too, like children, wander about this earth in a daze and, ...
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE I wasn't against becoming a dad: I'd had a good childhood, as childhoods go, and as role mod...
MICHAEL REDHILL All my characters are me. I'm not a good enough actor to become a character. I hear about actors...
RYAN GOSLING I've read crime fiction all my life. A thing that's bothered me about crime fiction is that ...
STIEG LARSSON I'm not like a champion of profanity. I write what I hear, and the characters that I write, that...
STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS I suppose all fictional characters, especially in adventure or heroic fiction, at the end of the day...
ALAN MOORE I guess rock stars are role models for the kids who listen to that music. My role models have all be...
GREG GRAFFIN I don't view my memory as accurate or static - and, in autobiographical fiction, my focus is sti...
TAO LIN Let's face it: Most of us don't realize it, but we are failing our kids as reading role mode...
JAMES PATTERSON I don't mind that I am not necessarily a household name, because I think my characters have outs...
JEFFREY WRIGHT I'm very drawn to characters who are very flawed. I'm less interested in characters who are ...
RACHEL WEISZ Men are not governed by justice, but by law or persuasion. When they refuse to be governed by law or...
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW My family are observant Muslims, but I've come to the faith through an intellectual conviction, ...
RANDA ABDEL-FATTAH Student athletes are role models for youth and the local community. As role models, they live in a '...
CRISSY SCHLUEP As we've seen time and again, women and girls who are out there working, they are truly force mu...
MICHELLE OBAMA I remove a lot of the pressure from myself by saying I'm not competing with my parents. They are...
BENIGNO AQUINO III But I don't want to write my own fiction,' Cath said, as emphatically as she could. 'I don't want to...
RAINBOW ROWELL It's mad what each generation vilifies. It's not necessarily to do with logic.
LAURA FRASER I don't write particularly to effect social change. I believe writing can do that, but that'...
AUGUST WILSON That's what fiction writers do: create characters and do terrible things to them for the enterta...
GARRY TRUDEAU What I think is wonderful is that women are not just avengers or victims in films. They are people. ...
MADHURI DIXIT It seems like whenever you write about Muslims, people assume that you're writing about the Qura...
G. WILLOW WILSON Most of my good friends are my friends from high school or childhood, and they're not actors - t...
EMILY MEADE I'm always depressed when a book ends, because those are my friends for however long the book ta...
SEANAN MCGUIRE We all are who we are. We're not necessarily good, and we're not necessarily bad. So much te...
KYLE SCHMID Lesbians and gay men are part of Muslim faith and society. We are not going to be silenced or victim...
AARON SAEED My role models were always the Pacinos and the Oldmans, the guys who get dirty with their characters...
GABRIEL MANN I write most of my songs to beats. I play around on guitar, but not enough to where I can compose my...
KEHLANI I'm not a pretty princess, and I'm aware of that, so I like music that is really intense, re...
ASHLEY WAGNER My mom is incredibly stylish, and she gets it from my grandmother. I feel like I can't live up t...
LAKE BELL There is no shame in black athletes not wanting to be role models, but there should be shame when th...
LZ GRANDERSON The Palestine I know is a place where Christians and Muslims are equal. My mother, a Muslim village ...
MAYSOON ZAYID Most Muslims do not 'choose' Islam in the way that they choose to become doctors or lawyers,...
MOHSIN HAMID I'm not paid to be a role model, parents should be role models.
CHARLES BARKLEY I've always loved massive worlds, whether in fantasy or science fiction. I like the idea of maki...
VICTORIA AVEYARD I love developing children as characters. Children rarely have important roles in literary fiction -...
BARBARA KINGSOLVER They offered me that film before I did Frida and I said, no, I'm not capable of directing. Then ...
SALMA HAYEK Logic can often be reversed, but the effect does not precede the cause.
GREGORY BATESON I have a lot of blurring between fiction and non-fiction in so many of my works. For example, my fir...
IRVIN D. YALOM What has bothered and angered radical Muslims is that I'm a non-Muslim writing anything at all a...
BRAD THOR The establishment, the newspapers, they try to create something called Scottish literature, but when...
IRVINE WELSH We sure have a good tradition and I do all events like they do. They are kind of role models. I can ...
AKSEL SVINDAL We sure have a good tradition and I do all events like they do. They are kind of role models. I can ...
AKSEL LUND SVINDAL According to Newtonian 3rd law in physics life, nature all that we do is governed by a equal or oppo...
GARY F EVANS... My characters are fictional. I get ideas from real people, sometimes, but my characters always exist...
S. E. HINTON Young people, some of whom are not born into the faith, are being fired up by preachers using basic ...
AYAAN HIRSI ALI My characters are always on the outside; the spotlight's not on them. But they do get somewhere.
JEANETTE WINTERSON I always say I write my own novels and the characters don't take control of me, but in fact, I l...
A. S. BYATT Not all Muslims become involved in acts of violence. Yet all might be held culpable. THis is because...
MAULANA WAHIDUDDIN KHAN The fact that my female characters have strong personalities but are also physically attractive prob...
SIDNEY SHELDON Well I've been crystal clear that we should not have schools which are set up by extremists whet...
MICHAEL GOVE Everyone's been through hell to get where they are, and I'm not gonna let anybody talk down ...
ROMAN REIGNS It's like these ideas, these characters, kind of bubble up inside me, and one day they're no...
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN Theater people say you are either a comedian or a tragedian, and I'm a tragedian. And the vexing...
JOHN LOGAN Sportsmen just do what they do. I'm not trying to be a role model. If there's any inspiratio...
ANTHONY JOSHUA A lot of times, I faced bullies - or the 'big dogs' at school. What I wanted 'Red Rising...
PIERCE BROWN As a songwriter, I'm not necessarily writing about myself or my life.
BEN GIBBARD When we talk about dystopias, especially in young adult fiction, a lot of them are essentially scien...
PAOLO BACIGALUPI Most of the characters I have in my children's books are grouchy or annoyed about something or a...
JUDITH VIORST During all of my writing career - this includes when I was writing plays and my other screenplays - ...
ASGHAR FARHADI What we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do. There are people we trust b...
STEPHEN R. COVEY I don't try and write strong female characters or strong male characters, I just try and write, ...
J. J. ABRAMS I write what I want to write, and then, when it's finished, I use my judgment to see whether or ...
JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN All of the characters in my films, they share one commonality. It doesn't matter whether they ar...
PARK CHAN-WOOK What I hope to do in the States is to break up this stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs. I mean, we ar...
BASSEM YOUSSEF I don't write tracts, I write novels. I'm not a preacher, I'm a fiction writer.
URSULA K. LE GUIN I'm afraid that - not necessarily deliberately, but consistently - I've made a kind of labor...
JAY MCINERNEY I confess I didn't read the 'Green Arrow' comics before coming to play Shado. The comic ...
CELINA JADE I love it when Muslims go to war with each other, as I do when the Christians do, because it shows t...
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS People have always heard voices. Sometimes they're called shamans, sometimes they're called ...
RUTH OZEKI Adults are our role models and should not be smoking on our school grounds where we see it and breat...
DEBBIE PHILLIPS I want my mom on 'Scream Queens'. She could play someone who is convinced she's Princess...
BILLIE LOURD Most of the characters I write with don't think an awful lot about their faith. They're not ...
ALICE MCDERMOTT Social economic problems do not exist everywhere that an economic event plays a role as cause or eff...
MAX WEBER Ideals are the worlds masters.
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND There are so many stories to tell in the worlds of science fiction, the worlds of fantasy and horror...
SETH GRAHAME-SMITH Many people in the West do not realise how oppressive some Muslim states are - both for men and for ...
HAMZA YUSUF My screenwriting credits in my career are probably not dissimilar to some other ones in the sense th...
DAN GILROY All the role models are being exposed and this is good because role models are shit. The quicker we ...
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS I hope it's not all I'll ever do, but I know I've played enigmatic characters. For me, t...
AIDAN GILLEN Things on a very small scale behave like nothing that you have any direct experience about. They do ...
RICHARD P. FEYNMAN I don't know where my fashion sense comes from, exactly. I've always been interested in, not...
SAM HUNT The process changes slightly from role to role. Obviously, there are different things you're cal...
DON CHEADLE When you're reading, you're not where you are; you're in the book. By the same token, I ...
DIANA GABALDON

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LEILA SALES You can't tell me my feelings are overwrought or absurd. You don't know. They are my feelings.
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LEILA SALES I do want to believe that there's some place in the world that's more mature than high school," Vick...
LEILA SALES Don't be special." That's what I would say to my younger self if I could pinpoint the moment when I ...
LEILA SALES I don't believe that anyone who is a legitimately interesting person can be popular as a teenager," ...
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LEILA SALES People are who they are and, try as you might, you cannot make them be what you want them to be.
LEILA SALES You think it's so easy to change yourself. You think it's so easy, but it's not. True, things don't ...
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LEILA JANAH Handouts are not going to end global poverty, but work - real work - just might.
LEILA JANAH I think part of the problem with charity is that it tends to make us view people as helpless victims...
LEILA JANAH She's thinking that what she's been doing all these years isn't what she wants to do anymore. Someti...
LEILA COBO Sometimes you get everything you ever wanted, only it doesn't look like what you wanted anymore.
LEILA SALES Small miracles happen every day, some people just don’t notice them.
LEILA SUMMERS Without a best friend to tell stories to, it almost didn't matter if they even happened.
LEILA HOWLAND In the spirit of compromise.
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LEILA ZERROUGUI This was our first visit to an African country and South African conditions of detention could certa...
LEILA ZERROUGUI Many foreigners are deprived of their liberty, some with legal residence papers, some claiming asylu...
LEILA ZERROUGUI The One of Ours poster campaign is a great way for high schools to see how well their graduate are d...
LEILA TVEDT In addition, it lets us hear directly from really good students who have decided to study here. They...
LEILA TVEDT It was 104 degrees that night. It was 130 degrees ringside, that's what they said. I was there. It f...
LEILA SMITH He meant Doyle. I know my son. But . . . I can't be sure. Ray used to take care of me. I used to kno...
LEILA SMITH Now, for four or five years, I don't get nothing, I don't hear nothing. And I don't ask why. Ray had...
LEILA SMITH He wanted to buy me a Cadillac. But I only saw hard men and rough women in those cars. So he bought ...
LEILA SMITH Ray had promised me back in 1940 that I would never have to work again. And I never had to. My son a...
LEILA SMITH The world swam before my eyes.
LEILA SMITH He arrived in good shape, conscious, I talked to him, he expressed his appreciation and his thanks f...
LEILA SHAHID He woke up in a good mood, in good shape after a real rest. He feels generally better; his general c...
LEILA SHAHID It was already dehydrated, hadn't been feeding and being out of the water would have, in effect, shr...
LEILA SADLER There was always the risk this would happen.
LEILA SADLER It was a brave, valiant, but ultimately tragic effort to get the whale to safety.
LEILA SADLER We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer property from the estate of Katharine Hepburn. Her...
LEILA DUNBAR We have to be really, really careful about what goes up on the site.
LEILA DUNBAR I think it's a great move. I think they will take it more seriously than CBS did. There has never re...
LEILA COBO The music they are making is wonderful. There is so much talent there.
LEILA COBO We chose materials that feel good under your feet and against your hands.
LEILA BIJAN The use of natural light throughout the building was very important.
LEILA BIJAN Design is a very subjective thing, and at times we had fireworks.
LEILA BIJAN It's a comment on our society, on the fragmentation of American family life. We have to bear that th...
LEILA AHMED After years of secularism we're introducing Islam in a new way into the constitution, ... The only o...
LEILA AHMED is a signal of things to come rather than a bad thing itself. That's what is so troubling.
LEILA AHMED What really happened doesn't matter. What matters is how we agree to remember it.
LEILA SALES My personal style comes from jugaad, a Hindi word meaning doing more with less.
LEILA JANAH I think that's one of the biggest problems in the world - we don't look at one another; we d...
LEILA BEKHTI People, of all ages, are far more open than you might think to being moved in new ways.
LEILA JOSEFOWICZ Some people were nice to you simply because they liked you.
LEILA SALES É a sensação de rodar, rodar, rodar sem saber exatamente para onde estava indo ou como se já est...
LEILA GOMES LOPES The more science learns what life is, the more reluctant scientists are to define it.
LEILA M. COYNE