We live in an age of global expectations. Our hopes have converged in many ways, none more so than in our democratic aspirations.

Freedom is partial to no race. Freedom has no religion. Freedom favors no ethnicity. Freedom discriminates not between rich and poor countries. Inevitably freedom will overwhelm Ethiopia.

All the great crimes of history, lest we forget, have their genesis in the moral wilderness of their times.

As Ethiopia goes, so goes the whole Horn of Africa - a region where instability can have major security and humanitarian implications for the United States and Europe.

Belief is the wound that knowledge heals.

For me, the short story is the depth of a novel, the breadth of a poem, and, as you come to the last few paragraphs, the experience of surprise.

the function of wealth is not to accumulate it but to give it away as productively and responsibly as you can.

Everybody's family has problems.

Simply pushing harder within the old boundaries will not do.

It is my job in life to travel all roads, so that some may take the road less travelled, and others the road more travelled, and all have a pleasant day.

There is nothing wrong in using people. The success never uses people except to their advantage.

El Salvador has the scenery of northern California and the climate of southern California plus - and this was a relief - no Californians.

Charlie Hebdo were the licensed anarchist clowns of the society.

I find it hard to think of myself as selling books. I don't even have a Web site. I want to sit and write, not sell.