Peace. The upland serenity of high altitude, the openness of grassland without indigenous bush or trees; the greening, yellowing or silver-browning that prevailed, according to season.

A desert is a place without expectation.

The truth isn't always beauty, but the hunger for it is.

A truly living human being cannot remain neutral.

The caged eagle become a metaphor for all forms of isolation, the ultimate in imprisonment. A zoo is prison.

Writing is making sense of life.

Perhaps the best definition of progress would be the continuing efforts of men and women to narrow the gap between the convenience of the powers that be and the unwritten charter.

I have failed at many things, but I have never been afraid.

Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.

Time is change; we measure its passage by how much things alter.

Sentiment is for those who don't know what to do next.

Human unhappiness is evidence of our immortality.

Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is a trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves.

Mental understanding cannot change our life, unless it becomes real understanding.

Who didn’t exist at the convergence of a thousand thousand stories?

I want to make clear only that words are not the things spoken about, and that there is no such thing as an object in absolute isolation.

... Too often we fail to recognize and pay tribute to the creative spirit. It is that spirit that creates our jobs.

I am hopeful that no one will forget what happened in Bosnia.

Nothing has gotten me out of Philadelphia. I moved 20 minutes away from Philly. That's about it.

Keeping even the most humble talent wrapped in a napkin becomes the more reprehensible the greater the emergency.

I saw people rise out of poverty right in front of me. ... It made me believe that the market was the most powerful tool for change that we could hope to have.