Find optimism in the inevitable.

Journalists seem mostly interested in what brand of shoes I wear.

Our office acts like a kind of educational establishment and we are very careful who we educate.

Nigeria was a blank on the map - there weren't even any maps. The US State Department, everyone said don't go there. It was courageous of Harvard University: the notion was that we would match Harvard students with Nigerian students, so that every student would have a guide, creating a guarantee of intimacy with the city.

Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.

Without a tighter union, Europe will disintegrate

Nobody should be anything, but because I once had a different profession and I'm interested in writing, I took it upon me.