A sustained engagement with the world, a sense of how it was and how it ought to be, and what has been lost, is imperative to good writing - I just don't know how you can be a serious writer without it.

Freedom of speech doesn't guarantee great literature.

Modernity has created more problems than it is capable of solving. Millions of people are now condemned to wait endlessly for their redemption through modernity.

In America, you don't even have proper holidays. It's really one of the most prosperous slave societies in history. People work their asses off all year long and get two weeks off! It's incredible.

I think what's important and extraordinarily practical about Buddhism, is that it offers very concrete methods for people to work with.

The asymmetries of power that have shaped relations between the West and the rest of the world also exist in the realm of literary criticism.

There have been many instances of people combining the political life with the spiritual life, a life of constant self-examination. Gandhi was a great example of that.