“Children are born pantheists. They see reality unshaped by culture or language. The whole world seems divine to them, full of mystery and power.”

“Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.”

“Divine sound is the cause of all manifestation. The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.”

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”

“It happens all too often - people regret that their language and culture are being lost but at the same time decide not to saddle their own children with the chore of preserving them.”

“My memory often seems like a city of exiled poets afire with the astonishment of language, each believing in the integrity of his own witness, each with a separate version of culture and history, and the divine essential fire that is poetry itself.”