It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.

For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news -- as you learn how much more of it's been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home

As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end.

Once in a very long time you come across a book that is far, far more than the ink, the glue and the paper, a book that seeps into your blood.

For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure.

Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.

A little imagination goes a long way in Fes.

One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.

The Occident has never found it easy to grasp the strange netherworld of spirits that followers of Islam universally believe exist in a realm overlaid our own.

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship.

The idea of my heart dancing with delight was far too good to pass up.

Who’s gonna bring the wild animals some hope? If we don’t love them the way they are..

To rise above the conflicting desires of others, there must be no conflict about your own.

He stared at her a moment longer, then laughed softly. “I wouldn’t love you if you were any weaker, ” he said, and let go of her.

I'm not used to introspection. I've never lingered on my feelings. The show must go on.

Convictions are a matter of choice, not force.

Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light.

I like to write about certain things that if they are not written about are not going to exist.

My oldest sister was an actress living in NYC by the time I was ten, and desperately wanted to be the one in charge of the words.

You don't have to dumb down - you just have to find a clever, good, secure man. I've found a couple - I've been lucky - but it's probably hard for everybody to find that true love of a good man.

A suffering world cries for mercy, as far as the eye can see. Lawyers around every bend in the road, lawyers in every tree.