To step away from the world isn't to draw back; it's actually a way to tune in.

We travel, in essence, to become young fools again - to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.

As soon as I began to talk to Dalai Lama, I realized that Chinese and Tibetans from his point of view are mostly the same. And as he pointed out during the recent disturbances, the Chinese are suffering under a tough government much as the Tibetans are.

As soon as I'm on the road, I see, often palpably, that I know nothing at all, which is always a great liberation.

Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love.

I think that America is an ideal place for the privileged homeless, who are used to different cultures. It's easiest and most accommodating because it is a country of exiles and immigrants and newcomers. There are no walls, in that sense. There is always the sense that traditions are being made as we speak. So you can slot yourself in. If you are living at a distance in society, this is one of the most congenial societies to live in.

I think that foreignness is always with you. Indeed, I find California more foreign to me the longer I live here. In thirty years of living here on and off, it hasn't lost anything of foreignness. If anything, it has gained.