Wisdom in fragments

I have way too often felt like 'the other.' Even in my motherland, I did not quite fit in. I never did. This is partly because I was born in France, Strasbourg. After my parents separated, my father stayed in France and remarried.

Turkish-British novelist and author of "The Forty Rules of Love

I am a nomad—intellectually, physically, spiritually. A commuter, in the words of James Baldwin. This state of continuous exile is one that I find difficult to explain to other people but it's who I am.

Turkish-British novelist and author of "The Forty Rules of Love

When I say books can save us; books can be our dear friends, our amazing teachers, our loyal companions of the road, I really mean it, because it happened to me.

Turkish-British novelist and author of "The Forty Rules of Love

To me literature was, and still is, an existential need. Books and stories have been that gateway for me. I wanted to find a gate to an 'elsewhere', to another land, a Storyland.

Turkish-British novelist and author of "The Forty Rules of Love

I started writing fiction because I was lonely. I was an only child, a solitary child, raised by a single working mother, which was very unusual at the time in Turkey. Literature gave me a sense of continuity, coherence; it kept my pieces together. It helped me to connect even when I felt like I didn't quite belong.

Turkish-British novelist and author of "The Forty Rules of Love

I don't think there is anything about putting your country first that requires you to turn your back on the rest of the world. If anything, the opposite is true.

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

We like to think of data as being objective, but the answers we get are often shaped by the questions we ask. When those questions are biased, the data is, too.

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

It's amazing how little data the world has about women and girls. There are even gender gaps in the data we use to measure gender gaps.

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

I believe that if we want technological innovation to live up to its potential, we have to ensure that everyone has access to it. If technology is just for the privileged few, then it will concentrate power in the hands of those who already have it.

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

In rich countries, 'innovation' often means finding a better way of doing things. But in developing countries, it can mean finding a way to do things at all.

Co-Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Health Advocate

Free trade, openness, security, and a stable government framework have been the key factors behind the emergence of Dubai as an international business hub.

Founder and Chairman of Damac Properties, major UAE real estate developer

Having forefathers as merchants that forged their own paths pushed me to pursue a similar journey. At this point I got a lead that there was a lot of potential in catering, and so in 1982 I set out to make my mark competing with major international companies.

Founder and Chairman of Damac Properties, major UAE real estate developer

For the entrepreneurial spirit to manifest as successful business and social endeavours, we need a nurturing environment and an infrastructure that celebrates the human will to solve problems and progress.

Founder and Chairman of Damac Properties, major UAE real estate developer

Our inner desire to start something new and make it big has been one of the most catalysing factors behind our collective evolution as a species. Our quest to explore and develop markets has persisted since the time humans have been trading goods.

Founder and Chairman of Damac Properties, major UAE real estate developer

We naturally will tend to read media or engage with dialogue that affirms our hypotheses, rather than looking at the truth.

Indian Author & Novelist Known for Best-Selling Fiction Books

In reality, India is not as divided as you might think… hundreds of millions of Muslims live and work in India, they are friends with people in and out of their community, and just live normal lives like anyone else.

Indian Author & Novelist Known for Best-Selling Fiction Books