I thought that culture and education are the shield. An educated person cannot do certain things and, and be educated, you cannot, and there they were, killing children day after day.

How can one explain the attraction terror holds for some minds — and why for intellectuals? . . .In a totalitarian and terrorist regime, man is no longer a unique being with infinite possibilities and limitless choices but a number, a puppet, with just this difference — numbers and puppets are not susceptible to fear.

[Tibet] is a small country based on religious principle, religious traditions. It never wanted any conquest.

I came to the conclusion that I am free to choose my own suffering. But I am not free to consent to someone else's suffering.

For the good of all, I say: Be careful, the brutality of the world must not be more powerful or attractive than love and friendship.

One person of integrity can make a difference.

Refugee today means somebody who has no home. No homeland. No security. No government to protect him or her. And it is of course one feels not only uprooted, one feels useless. One feels always surrounded by hostile forces. Arousing suspicion.