When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute.

Your first duty as a writer is to write to please yourself. And you have no duty towards anyone else.

Please believe in THE POWER OF ONE. One person can make an enormous difference in the world. One person - actually, one idea - can start a war, or end one, or subvert an entire power structure. One discovery can cure a disease or spawn new technology to benefit or annihilate the human race. You as ONE individual can change millions of lives. Think big. Do not limit your vision and do not ever compromise your dreams or ideals.

I have to finish this book tour of almost 30 cities.

I don't mind solitude. I love talking to other people, but I do need my space.

Its a wonderful thing to see a segment of our population that is open and eager to learn more about Chinese culture. It has filtered into the mainstream. You see credit-card ads on TV with white couples and Chinese babies.

The spoken word vanished with the wind. Likewise, the unrecorded life disappears as if it never existed.