In refugee camps around the world, I met people who were gone. They were still walking around but had lost so much that they were unable to claim any sort of identity. Others I met found who they truly were, and they generally found it through service to others. They became teachers when there was no school, books or pencils.

I was really bored, pretty antisocial, and not much of a joiner, and people thought that was a problem. I hated high school. In a way, it was good... I think, for a writer, it's good to be comfortable with being on the outside.

As a woman in Canada, I get to do whatever I want to do, and I'm used to that. I'm used to not having my government tell me my life is going to be restricted because I'm female.

We never know who we are going to be until we are tested, but perhaps we can test ourselves without going to the extremes of war. Perhaps we can be kinder now, live with less now, reach out to others now - and build an inner reserve of a strong identity that will hold us up even when everything else falls away.

You think history is going to remember the United States as a great democracy? No, they're going to think of us as a nation that became addicted to war. They'll call us warlords.

The War on Terror is one of the most critical national security efforts in our history.

I think 'Make love, not war' might be the most profound statement that's ever been made.

I knew from history that war comes with frightening regularity, often fought over the same ground and similar causes as previous conflicts.