“I like things to be what they're going to be. Not what they were. Or could have been.”

“People say things like "it wasn't supposed to go this way" and "this isn't what I wanted." They're just making noise. There's no such thing as "supposed to," and what you want doesn't matter. All that matters is what happened.”

“What was the use of doing great things if I could have a better time telling her what I was going to do?”

“Things are what they are and there's no point dwelling in the past or wondering what could have been.”

“...when we were walking through Angkor War, I found myself wondering about what is lost when one culture is systematically annihilated so another can thrive in the name of progress. Think about it, what might have happened if Cambodia hadn't eventually been taken over by Siam and then France - what the Cambodians could offer the world if they're given the opportunity to follow through with what they're meant to become.”

“But all these were things he could not want, because they were things he could not have, and wanting what you could not have led to misery and madness.”