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.

Everyone had memorized a chant of names and villages along footpaths in every direction. This was a very useful map.

I wondered if walking was not a form of dancing.

Perhaps it is because no one requires more than a charming illusion of action in the developing world. If policy makers know little about Afghanistan, the public knows even less, and few care about policy failure when the effects are felt only in Afghanistan.

I had been walking one afternoon in Scotland and thought: Why don’t I just keep going? There was, I said, a magic in leaving a line of footprints stretching across Asia.

The question shouldn’t be what we ought to do, but what we can do.

I have never met a villager who does not want a vote.

The point about democracy is not that it delivers legitimate, effective, prosperous rule of law. It's not that it guarantees peace with itself or with its neighbors. ... Democracy matters because it reflects an idea of equality.

The world isnt one way or another. Things can be changed very, very rapidly by someone with sufficient confidence, sufficient knowledge and sufficient authority.

Despite the dubious statistics … democracy is a thing of value for which we should be fighting.