I am simply a fairly typical product of a movable sensibility, living and working in a world that is itself increasingly small and increasingly mongrel. I am a multinational soul on a multinational globe on which more and more countries are as polyglot and restless as airports. Taking planes seems as natural to me as picking up the phone or going to school. I fold up my self and carry it around as if it were an overnight bag.
Pico IyerI do think itโs only by stopping movement that you can see where to go. And itโs only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care aboutโฆ and find a home.
Pico IyerI remember many years ago, I asked [Dalai Lama] about exile and he said: "Well, exile is good because it's brought me and my people closer to reality," and reality is almost a shrine before which he sits. Exile brings us up against the wall and forces us to rise to the challenge of the moment.
Pico IyerBut itโs only by having some distance from the world that you can see it whole, and understand what you should be doing with it.
Pico Iyer