For citizens who think themselves puppets in the hands of their rulers, nothing is more satisfying than having rulers as puppets in their hands. Pico Iyer More Quotes by Pico Iyer More Quotes From Pico Iyer I suddenly realized I was racing around so much, I could never catch up with my life Pico Iyer racing Dalai Lama is transforming those criteria - and the whole way of conducting politics. He's conducting politics in a much deeper way than most politicians are able to. He's the only politician I know of who's a monk. The Pope, of course, is in a similar position, but the Pope isn't in the same way leading a country of many million people. Pico Iyer ablecountrypeople Dalai Lama is very interested in learning from and sharing tips with people in other traditions, but he always stresses that we shouldn't underestimate the important differences between them. Pico Iyer differencesstresspeople I remember many years ago, I asked [Dalai Lama] about exile and he said: "Well, exile is good because it's brought me and my people closer to reality," and reality is almost a shrine before which he sits. Exile brings us up against the wall and forces us to rise to the challenge of the moment. Pico Iyer wallrealityyears For more and more of us, home has really less to do with a piece of soil than, you could say, with a piece of soul. If somebody suddenly asks me, "Where's your home?" I think about my sweetheart or my closest friends or the songs that travel with me wherever I happen to be. Pico Iyer homesongthinking I'd spent thirty years visiting the Dalai Lama, and twenty years as a journalist going to difficult places, war zones and revolutions from North Korea to Haiti and Beirut to Sri Lanka, and the question came up: What does this man have to offer to this world which seems so torn up and so attached to conflict? Pico Iyer sri-lankamenwar The Dalai Lama, these days, encourages Westerners not to take up Buddhism, partly because he feels that our roots are deep in other traditions, and we should go deeper into our own traditions rather than just acquiring the surfaces of others. Pico Iyer buddhismtraditionroots The less conscious one is of being a writer, the better the writing. Pico Iyer consciouswriting Gandhi or Bishop Tutu or the Dalai Lama. I think they're really embodiments of what we aspire to and, by keeping them in our heads, we're reminding ourselves of who we could be. That's what we're hoping to climb up towards. Pico Iyer bishopsembodimentthinking One of the interesting things about Los Angeles is that it's still supplying the whole of the world with its dreams through movies and songs and TV - often of an all-American family at the same time as the real Los Angeles is peopled by souls from Vietnam, Guatemala, and Korea who look nothing like the images being beamed out. I think all that is going to have to change and illusion is going to have to catch up with reality in that regard. Pico Iyer realdreamsong To step away from the world isn't to draw back; it's actually a way to tune in. Pico Iyer tunesinspiringworld Serendipity was my tour guide, assisted by caprice Pico Iyer tour-guidesserendipityguides Like the moon on the water, in a way. When you confront a Zen master, what you're really seeing are not his limitations but yours. Pico Iyer moonwaterway When I'm wandering around the Himalayas, most of the people that I see are Westerners from Germany, California, or the Netherlands, who are wearing sandals, Indian smocks, and are in search of enlightenment, antiquity, peace, and all the things they can't get in the west. Most of the people they meet are Nepali villagers in Lee jeans, Reeboks, and Madonna T-shirts who are looking for the paradise that they associate with Los Angeles - a paradise of material prosperity and abundance. Pico Iyer jeanscaliforniapeople And it’s only by going nowhere - by sitting still or letting my mind relax - that I find that the thoughts that come to me unbidden are far fresher and more imaginative than the ones I consciously seek out. Pico Iyer sitting-stillrelaxmind The Australians, it seems to me, thrive on their remoteness from the world and see it as a way of keeping up a code of "No worries, mate," while peddling their oddities to visitors: nonconformity is at once a fact of life for many, and a selling point. Pico Iyer odditiesworryworld So travel for me is an act of discovery and of responsibility as well a grand adventure and a constant liberation. Pico Iyer responsibilitydiscoveryadventure My Christmas present to myself each year is to see how much air travel can open up the world and take me to places as far from sheltered California and Japan as possible. Pico Iyer japanchristmasair As Thoreau famously sead, it doesn't matter where or how far you go - the farther commonly the worse - the important thing is how alive you are. Writing of every kind is a way to wake oneself up and keep as alive as when one has just fallen in love. Pico Iyer aliveimportantwriting Everyone is a Wordsworth in certain moods, and every traveler seeks out places that every traveler has missed. Pico Iyer wordsworthmoodtravel
