I had the feeling . . . that my experience was very different from other people’s. (Are we all under this illusion?)

It was a magic caused by the collision of modern methods and old ones; modern history and ancient; accessibility and isolation. And it was a magic which could only strike spark about that time. A few years earlier, from the point of view of aircraft alone, it would have been impossible to reach these places; a few later, and there will be no such isolation.

For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair.

So many things we love are you!

People talk about love as though it were something you could give, like an armful of flowers. And a lot of people give love like that -- just dump it down on top of you, a useless strong-scented burden.

Can one make the future a substitute for the present? And what guarantee have we that the future will be any better if we neglect the present?

Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.