There is an intense but simple thrill in setting off in the morning on a mountain trail, knowing that everything you need is on your back. It is a confidence in having left the inessentials behind and of entering a world of natural beauty that has not been violated, where money has no value, and possessions are a dead weight. The person with the fewest possessions is the freest. Thoreau was right.

You may not know it but I'm no good at coping with all the attention in the luxury hotels I sometimes find myself in.

The lust of the eye. The best photographs were, to me, like an experience of drowning.

I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better.

The monotony of staying in one place is the best thing for writing a novel. Having regular habits, a kind of security, but especially no big surprises, no shocks.

travel [is] flight and pursuit in equal parts.

All politicians, even the most idealistic ones, are looking for money, sucking up to rich people.