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I think integration in Norway is, by all standards, going relatively well. People are working, taking education, learning the language.

The main experience, I think, is that we have managed: people moving to Norway has made Norway richer, economically, but also our culture has become more rich in many ways.

We have to find compromises. That's the way it is in Norway.

The future of Norway isn't about competing on being the cheapest but the most innovative. We have an expensive welfare state, and the only answer to continue that way is to become more competitive, especially on knowledge.

I really enjoy myself in Norway. Because I had started losing confidence in my ability of what I do. But sometimes, man, you just get tired of fighting and trying to prove yourself.

Norway will be recognized as an open democracy with the rule of law, with the universal human rights, and with the broad international engagement on the international scene taking upon ourselves responsibilities, because we are a privileged country.

For many years, it seemed as if nothing changed in Norway. You could leave the country for three months, travel the world, through coups d'etat, assassinations, famines, massacres and tsunamis, and come home to find that the only new thing in the newspapers was the crossword puzzle.

Nationalism in Norway was very strong in 1905, that we must be free of Sweden. But I must say, I'm not 100 percent sure that was a wise decision. We had the war; we were occupied by Germans from 1940 to '45. And if there had been one Scandinavian country, then it would not have been so very easy probably to go ahead with the occupation.

If you want to decrease housing costs in Norway, the most important thing is to build more.

If you're a Norwegian writer, you are not visible in the world. The door of the English language is very hard to open for a Norwegian writer.