And I loved this moment for all it's pain...We seemed for a moment like two parts of the same thing.

And my heart beat faster for the mountains of eastern Europe, finally, beat faster for the one hope that somewhere we might find in that primitive countryside the answer to why under God this suffering was allowed to exist - why under God it was allowed to begin, and how under God it might be ended. I had not the courage to end it, I knew, without that answer.

We're frightened of what makes us different.

Amazing what the British do with language; the nuances of politeness. The world's great diplomats, surely.

And what constitutes evil, real evil, is the taking of a single human life. Whether a man would die tomorrow or the day after or eventually... it doesn't matter. Because if God does not exist, then life... every second of it... Is all we have.

A singer can shatter glass with the proper high note," he said, "but the simplest way to break glass is simply to drop it on the floor.

I was obsessed with religious questions, the basics: Why are we here? Why is the world so beautiful?