The question shouldn't be what we ought to do, but what we can do.

The world isnt one way or another. Things can be changed very, very rapidly by someone with sufficient confidence, sufficient knowledge and sufficient authority.

This idea that failure is not an option: It makes failure invisible, inconceivable and inevitable.

I found incredible kindness, dignity and hospitality in both Iraq and Afghanistan - am only alive because of it - the most worthwhile lesson of a twenty month walk to these countries was a deepening appreciation of the kindness of strangers.

Religions . . . seem to avoid mountain passes.

Democracy is not simply a question of structures. It is a state of mind. It is an activity.

I'd like to come back to the West eventually. In the end abroad I am always a stranger, active politics in particular is not accessible to me and although people are generous, I can never be on the inside of a culture that relies a great deal on the private space and the family.