“The truth is that once one has been to these challenging, terrible places, they’re always strangely drawn back, because there is nothing that can compare to the raw reality of seeing the basic human fight for survival. It disgusts and inspires.”

“Remember that the past fifty years has been the age of the Big Bang cosmology. We have learnt to see all reality as a slow-motion explosion, as pouring itself out and passing away, as dissemination. We live in a postmodern epoch in which there is nothing absolute, nothing permanent and nothing substantial.”

“What you do, what you own, what you plan, what you believe, what you think you are, what you want, and so much more are all the result of beliefs and values you've been trained to have, to be, and to want. Some of this is simply enculturation, but when it takes on the intent of deliberate manipulation, then enculturation per se is an inadequate term.”

“How strange it is. We have these deep terrible lingering fears about ourselves and the people we love. Yet we walk around, talk to people, eat and drink. We manage to function. The feelings are deep and real. Shouldn't they paralyze us? How is it we can survive them, at least for a little while? We drive a car, we teach a class. How is it no one sees how deeply afraid we were, last night, this morning? Is it something we all hide from each other, by mutual consent? Or do we share the same secret without knowing it? Wear the same disguise?”

“The camera has always been a guide, and it's allowed me to see things and focus on things that maybe an average person wouldn't even notice.”

“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse.”

“When one has nothing to lose, one becomes courageous. We are timid only when there is something we can still cling to.”