Being in the presence of the "other" seems to show me who I am in a way that is really important to me. I feel radically more comfortable in Laos, say, than I do in Pennsylvania.

The Universe has a plan to make sure we don't ever stop learning, not only in our minds, but also in our hearts.

I've always traveled. I'm a professor in a limited way. I teach one class two quarters out of four, so I get traveling done.

I wanted her to see that the only life worth living is a life full of love; that loss is always part of the equation; that love and loss conjoined are the best opportunity we get to live fully, to be our strongest, our most compassionate, our most graceful selves.

Do you write novels?" I said. "Novels, Lord no," she said. "I can't even stay married.

The more important question, of course, was what the new Lucy would do, and even though I was pretty sure the old Lucy wouldn't be around much anymore, I was a little bit afraid the new Lucy hadn't yet shown up.

Traveling is my priority, because it drives the writing, so I teach around the travel, and sometimes the travel is the teaching.