People who don't read books a lot are threatened by books.

Bogotá seemed a cruel towering place, like an eagles' nest now inhabited by vultures and their dying prey.

...a society without jaywalkers might indicate a society without artists.

Although I'm not fluent in sign language by a long way, I could have a fairly decent conversation.

In Turkey it was always 1952, in Malaysia 1937; Afghanistan was 1910 and Bolivia 1949. It is 20 years ago in the Soviet Union, 10 in Norway, five in France. It is always last year in Australia and next week in Japan.

Albania in 1994 was the strangest place I've ever seen. It was like walking into the looking glass: falling apart, paranoid people, anarchy, no one farming, full of thieves. It was beyond any Third World country. They were living in their own private nightmare.

Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace.