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

Making a living and making a life sometimes point in opposite directions.

Yet [Dalai Lama] has said very strongly that basic freedoms of thought and speech have to be respected in Tibet and they're not at the moment. Tolerance doesn't mean accepting what's unfair.

Serendipity was my tour guide, assisted by caprice

We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.

The Dalai Lama says Tibet and the modern world can engage in a conversation; perhaps Tibet has something to share with the rest of us based on its researches into mind, and we have a lot that we can share with Tibet.

When I was two years old, I heard about his [Dalai Lama] flight from Tibet. Being very little, I said, "Oh, good Tibetans, bad Chinese." Those were the black-and-white ways that I thought.