The question shouldn't be what we ought to do, but what we can do. Rory Stewart More Quotes by Rory Stewart More Quotes From Rory Stewart I think it would be a huge mistake, damaging, unnecessary and I think also dishonest. Rory Stewart top-news If a relationship is going wrong, if a marriage is going wrong, the answer cannot simply be to say, 'You can't afford to break up because you are going to lose the house.' The answer has to be only one thing, which is 'I love you.' Rory Stewart i-love-you marriage love relationship When my father was posted to Malaysia, we'd take bacon-and-egg sandwiches in our backpacks and go hiking in the jungle or make bamboo rafts to sail down rivers. Rory Stewart down jungle sail father As a Scot, I instinctively feel a sympathy towards a culture which is based on generosity. It's very refreshing. Afghans think they're the best people in the world and their country is the best place in the world, and it's strange because you go there and it doesn't really look like it, and yet they assume that everybody else envies them. Rory Stewart best you culture people September 11th has produced only miniature heroes because our culture has freed itself from many of the old, dangerous, elitist fantasies of heroism... But in so doing, we have not only tamed and diminished heroes. We have risked taming and diminishing ourselves. Rory Stewart doing heroism dangerous culture In the British embassy in Afghanistan in 2008, an embassy of 350 people, there were only three people who could speak Dari, the main language of Afghanistan, at a decent level. And there was not a single Pashto speaker. Rory Stewart single language speak people When you're doing mountain rescue, you don't take a doctorate in mountain rescue; you look for somebody who knows the terrain. It's about context. Rory Stewart doing look you mountain I have not met, in Afghanistan, in even the most remote community, anybody who does not want a say in who governs them. Most remote community, I have never met a villager who does not want a vote. Rory Stewart never vote community want Democracy matters because it reflects an idea of equality and an idea of liberty. It reflects an idea of dignity, the dignity of the individual, the idea that each individual should have an equal vote, an equal say, in the formation of their government. Rory Stewart equality vote democracy government Democracy is not simply a question of structures. It is a state of mind. It is an activity. And part of that activity is honesty. Rory Stewart question democracy honesty mind For politicians to be honest, the public needs to allow them to be honest, and the media, which mediates between the politicians and the public, needs to allow those politicians to be honest. If local democracy is to flourish, it is about the active and informed engagement of every citizen. Rory Stewart citizen politicians democracy media I am from Scotland, and I am Christian, not Muslim. Rory Stewart muslim i-am scotland christian Nostalgia for dead tyrants and the longing for heroes are unhealthy, and they can result in the deification of a Saddam as easily as a Havel or Mandela. Rory Stewart dead heroes result nostalgia I'm not good at explaining why I walked across Afghanistan. Rory Stewart why good afghanistan explaining I had a lot of romantic notions about what it would mean to cross Asia by foot. Rory Stewart cross about romantic mean I want to 'normalise' myself. I would love to have a family. Rory Stewart myself family want love I have planted over 6,000 trees at home in Scotland, some of them oak. I'd like my children to be able to watch them grow. Rory Stewart trees grow home children If things are going wrong in a country, it's not usually that we don't have enough foreigners. It's usually that we have too many. Rory Stewart wrong things enough country In some sense, I'm a romantic. I like the idea of organic history and tradition. Rory Stewart like tradition romantic history If we say the purpose of life is our children, that's neither a purpose nor a meaning. But I'm sure I will be as besotted as everybody else when I have them. Rory Stewart meaning purpose life children
