I was born accidentally. I lived accidentally in London. We nearly migrated to New Zealand. So much of my life has been a product of chance, I can't see a meaning in it at all.

Unlike memory, which confirms and reinforces itself, history contributes to the disenchantment of the world.

We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth.

We need to learn... how war brutalises and degrades winners and losers alike and what happens to us when, having heedlessly waged war for no good reason, we are encouraged to inflate and demonise our enemies in order to justify that war's indefinite continuance.

I don't believe that one should have one-size-fits-all moral rules for international political action.

The East European small countries have a sense of betrayal, of having been forgotten by Western leaders.

Words can make the illness a subject I can master, and not one that one simply emotes over.