The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both.

It was the silent time before dawn, along the shores of what had been one of the most beautiful lakes in southern Africa.

A nation becomes what its young people read in their youth. Its ideals are fashioned then, its goals strongly determined.

In six pages, I can't even say "Hello.

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewriters.

During my lifetime I have met dozens of writers and photographers in dozens of different countries. But I have encountered no one who could both write and photograph with the artistry of Robert Vavra.

On 24 October 1944 Planet Earth was following its orbit about the sun as it has obediently done for nearly five billion years.