Fiona Bruce Quotes

We were in the Arabian Desert for nine months. And I was having the time of my life. It could have been an archeological expedition, a military expedition.

Wherever we halted we were surrounded by wandering troops of Bedouins.

For years, I meant to read 'Arabian Sands', Wilfred Thesiger's account of two punishing camel journeys during the late 1940s across Southern Arabia's Empty Quarter. Now that I have, I can sheepishly join the chorus of those who revere the book as one of the half dozen greatest works of modern English travel writing.

When Kate Spade New York told me that we would be going to Dubai to celebrate the opening of two stores there, I was so thrilled - Dubai has been a place that I have wanted to visit for quite some time. There was something mysterious about Dubai that I wanted to see for myself so I could draw my own conclusions.

No land suits Arab tribesmen except that which suits their camels.

The craziest place I've probably ever visited while filming would have to be Jordan. I did a small test shoot for a test movie. We arrived in Jordan, and we stayed in Amman for a night. Then we drove down for three hours into the middle of the Wadi Rum Desert, which is in the absolute middle of nowhere. It was insane.

The last time I was in Abu Dhabi, I had a blast. I went jet-skiing in the Arabian Gulf, I went to Ferrari World, and went to Sheikh Zayed Mosque. I just enjoyed the city and the life. It was just amazing, and I am really looking forward to coming back.

I'd set out to Oman in search of luxury with culture and family-friendly adventure thrown in. And I found it.

I last played in Dubai in the summer of 2009 and it was still over 40 degrees in the evening. It was extremely exhausting and absolute madness.

On the outskirts of the desert in Yemen, there was a cafe with a jukebox that had 'Sunshine Superman' on it. I loved that.

I think the first time I watched 'Aladdin' was when I was still in Egypt, because I was born in Cairo.

I would go out into the desert. The desert was my teacher. I didn't know about gurus and wise people-I wasn't a reader.

Desert, in generally, is a very good place to find yourself. Or lose yourself.

The vast sage desert undulates with almost imperceptible tides like the oceans.

I'm working on a very long series of paintings based on desert folklore.

Being in the desert was brilliant and it was hard.

Certainly he had none of a gentleman's instincts, strutting about peace conferences in Arab dress.

Cairo had not yet become the stamping-ground of tourists. Foreigners were curiosities, and the true believer's hatred for the accursed Giaour, or "Christian dog," was something that he was very proud of. A fanatic was liable to make trouble at any moment.

Israel is an oasis of liberty, a home to the oppressed and persecuted.

… the invariable Oriental custom of demanding more than is expected

I was a teenager in the 1970s and grew up in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

T. E. Lawrence was far more than a glamorous, swashbuckling, heroic figure in flowing robes mounted on a camel, leading the Arab tribes against the Turks in World War One.

I think that most people in the Middle East, at least 50%, believe in being sharia-compliant. If you're sharia-compliant or want to impose sharia law, the United States is the wrong place for you.

My dad was a brilliant civil engineer. My parents later divorced, but we lived in Abu Dhabi, Greece, Kuwait.

All of Vegas is false. There's a false Paris, a false Venice, a false Baghdad - in fact, all of the early Vegas aesthetic is Baghdad, which is also the irony. It's 'Aladdin,' the sands, 'One Thousand and One Nights.'