Paul Farmer has helped to build amazing health care system in one of the poorest areas of Haiti. He founded Partners in Health, which serves the destitute and the sick in many parts of the world from Haiti to Boston and from Russia to Peru.

... "You may not see the ocean, but right now we are in the middle of the ocean, and we have to keep swimming.

Don't worry about being worried. You're heading out on an adventure and you can always change your mind along the way and try something else.

I usually write about ordinary people and ordinary things, but Paul Farmer is the least ordinary person I've ever met... He's the leader of a small group of people who hope to cure a sick world, and I hope my book can help in some small way.

When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.

I wrote a novel about the combat experiences I didn't have in Vietnam.

If you had an essentially happy childhood, that tends to dwell with you.