Pluralism isn't just diversity; it's something we create out of this diversity.

We tend to gravitate towards our tribes; the challenge is to understand the people of other tribes.

The issue of "who we are" has been an ongoing one. It's part of the ongoing identity crisis of America.

I do think that the U.S. has an opportunity as a democracy to really exemplify what a religiously diverse society can be when it embraces the pluralism.

I guess one of the things that is an advantage of the world in which we live is that I can at least I can have multiple homes. I can have that attachment to Montana and to Cambridge and to India.

The idea of going on a spiritual journey is really part of the DNA of India itself.

We are built on a structure of the freedom of religion and the non-establishment of religion. That really is a pretty sturdy rudder for the U.S.

There are two great things that we need to find in life: one is love, probably the most important, and the second is work, and they compete with one another from time to time.

Be prepared for changes.

That is the strength of having a trusting and ongoing relationship that draws on our history and moves right on into our present, and I have that kind of marriage.

India is simply dotted with pilgrimage places, and with teachers and very powerful spiritual guides.

Reading has given me more satisfaction than really anything else.

It's a luxury to be able to tell a long form story. I love novels, and I love to have a long relationship with characters.

Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction.

My work at MIT had focused on what we could build in space once we had inexpensive space transportation and industrial facilities in orbit. And this led to various sorts of work in space development.

A wrong motive involves defeat.

All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.

If Victor was frightened by Dimitri's threat, he didn't show it. His jade green eyes glanced between the two of us. "You two are a match made in heaven. Or somewhere.

Knowledge is power...knowled ge is safety...knowle dge is happiness.

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.

And yet, the only exciting life is the imaginary one.