Americans have discovered the fragility of life, that ominous fragility that the rest of the world either already experienced or is experiencing now with terrible intensity.

All the scheming and plotting in the world won't result in something lasting, transcendent. Anything that's authentic, that's real, comes in the form of a gift. Even if by accident.

Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt.

The world is governed by institutions that are not democratic - the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO.

The attitude of insolent haughtiness is characteristic of the relationships Americans form with what is alien to them, with others.

There are plenty of reasons not to put up with the world as it is.