Writing is, in the end, that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.

In an age of speed, I began to think nothing could be more exhilarating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.

I think people like me are in a relatively privileged position because we have to some extent chosen to live in foreign places. I would always make the distinction between those who are exiles in terms of being thrown out of the place they want to be, and others who are exiles in terms of going toward a place they would rather be.

A person susceptible to "wanderlust" is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.

Destinations are less important than the spirit you bring to them.

There's so much visible stuff around now, we're tempted to forget that it's usually the invisible that matters most.

As Thoreau famously sead, it doesn't matter where or how far you go - the farther commonly the worse - the important thing is how alive you are. Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love.