I am very optimistic because I have seen the changes in my lifetime. I have seen the world change for the better. We always think that present times is terrible, that what's happening today, it was never worse, that the world is going in the most awful direction. But I think that the world that my grandchildren will have will be better than the one I had when I turned 20.

Peace requires everyone to be in the circle - wholeness, inclusion.

Writing is like making love. Don't worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process.

If this world is going to be a better place for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it will be women who make it so.

Society decides when we get old. But the spirit never ages.

Two thirds of the work in the world is done by women. Women own 1 percent of the assets. Young women are sold into prostitution, forced labour, premature marriage, forced to have children they don't want or they can't support. They're abused, raped, beaten up. Domestic violence is supposed to be a cultural problem. They are the first victims of war, fundamentalism, conflict, recession. And young women who have access to education and health care and have resources think that everything was done, they don't have to worry.

You only have what you give. It’s by spending yourself that you become rich.