I am always surprised when people do get upset. Perhaps its just the nutty people who write to newspapers who get upset.

Originally I wanted to be a diplomat, and by attrition I started giving up that idea.

In both places [Paraguay and Newfoundland] people rise despite everything - both are pretty tough environments.

There are 60 million of us [britains] crammed into an area the size of a state. So you don't have that feeling of remoteness at all, ever. And that's reflected in the way our media works, and so on.

I tend to prefer traveling in the Third World countries. Like Ethiopia. Or Eritrea.

Paraguay has had a U.S. supermarket boss as its ambassador for a while. He did the job well. He was there because he wanted to be there. Rather than the British diplomat who didn't want to be there.

I don't want to pay good money to hear ordinary people's lunatic views. Most of the people who phone in are [lunatics] - certainly in Britain.

This terrible frustration that we so often feel in the West in not being able to articulate and express ourselves.

I feel better off doing what I know how to do. I feel a strong element of fictional style in travel writing anyway. Some call it creative nonfiction.

I was talking to my publisher in Britain and was told here we are - we are sixty million people and we reckon only four hundred thousand people in Britain really read.

I find the public reaction to writing - it's fascinating in this modern age. Of course people are able to interact with me and email me, and I get quite a few I suppose.

Rights’ are ‘privileges, ’ and if I am arrogant enough to demand the former without respecting the latter I will lose both.

Be the story teller in your life...never let anyone dictate what you’re about.

What is enquiry into the Truth? It is the firm conviction that the Self is real, and all, other than That, is unreal.

Opportunity: A favorable occasion for grasping a disappointment.

Last night we had three small zucchini for dinner that were grown within fifty feet of our back door. I estimate they cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $371.49 each.

No matter what else comes, your courage will be your companion for life.

If you consider yourself a part of the culture, then finances can't allow you to be bigger than the actual art form.

The situation is hopeless, we must take the next step.

I love the smell of freshly cut grass. It takes me back to summers in Maine.

I would lose myself too much if I thought of myself as the audience.