The military preferred - invariably - those who could be readily defined, assigned roles, understood, and controlled.

What mortal knew the way their fate line would run?

There are kinds of action, for good or ill, that lie so far outside the boundaries of normal behavior that they force us, in acknowledging that they have occurred, to restructure our own understanding of reality. We have to make room for them.

Liu Fang is a truly gifted, world-famous player of the pipa and the guzheng, classical Chinese stringed instruments.

In this world, where we find ourselves, we need compassion more than anything, I think, or we are all alone.

The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.

Words were power, words tried to change you, to shape bridges of longing that no one could ever really cross.