Revolution is as unpredictable as an earthquake and as beautiful as spring. Its coming is always a surprise, but its nature should not be.

I sometimes wonder what those of us who are writers would become in a nonliterary culture - storytellers? Hermits?

The positive emotions that arise in...unpromising circumstances demonstrate that social ties and meaningful work are deeply desired, readily improvised, and intensely rewarding. The very structure of our economy and society prevent these goals from being achieved.

Space--as landscape, terrain, spectacle, experience--has vanished.

We are often in two places at once. In fact we are usually in at least two places and occasionally the contrast is evident....Here, most often, is nothing more than the best perspective to contemplate there.

Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned.

The magic of the street is the mingling of the errand and the epiphany.