The great lesson my mother and father gave me was almost invisible. It was a strong sense of being rooted.

One finds oneself saying: 'I know the right question, but ... this is not exactly the right time to ask it.'

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called 'truth'.

These guys [the Catholic church] make Enron look like altar boys.

He [Mikhail Gorbachev] has, as many great leaders have, impressive eyes....There's a kind of laser-beam stare, a forced quality, you get from Gorbachev that does not come across as something peaceful within himself. It's the look of a kind of human volcano, or he'd probably like to describe it as a human nuclear energy plant.

I know that this story is true.

My cousin just died. He was only 19. He got stung by a bee - the natural enemy of a tightrope walker.