As always after drinking too much, I felt like my own ghost trying to take it's first solo walk outside the body.

In his brilliant new book Pankaj Mishra reverses the long gaze of the West upon the East, showing modern history as it has been felt by the majority of the world's population from Turkey to China. These are the amazing stories of the grandfathers of today's angry Asians. Excellent!

How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another heart? How much can we hope to understand those who have suffered deeper anguish, greater deprivation, and more crushing disappointments than we ourselves have known?

Great changes in the direction of peace have often come from people who were no great advocates of peace to begin with.

I very much enjoy reading other writers' diaries, mainly because it makes me ask myself: Are they like you? How do they think?

What is the thing you want most from me? What can I do to make you love me?' Be yourself,' said Ipek.

My diary has its own kind of magic. It gives me the feeling of having accomplished something. On days when I don't have time for this, I feel tortured.