I was filled with angst in college, that I struggled with the question of my future, the meaning of my life - spoiled sheltered rich girl collides with great books and is devastated by her own banality.

It was strange, I reflected.. that even in the weirdest circumstances, the most troubling episodes of one's life, the greatest divides from home and familiarity, there were these moments of undeniable joy.

In the end, I always act from the heart, even if I also value reason and tradition. I wish I could explain why, but I don't know.

For the first time, I had been struck by the excitement of the traveler who looks history in her subtle face.

We Gypsies know that where Jews are killed, Gypsies are always murthered too. And then a lot of other people, usually.

Sometimes people damage paintings or sculpture because they love it. They throw their arms around a statue in a fit of hysterical passion and it falls over.

It was not the brutality of what occurred next that changed my mind and brought home to me the full meaning of fear. It was the brilliance of it.