My heart is open to all the winds: It is a pasture for gazelles And a home for Christian monks, A temple for idols, The Black Stone of the Mecca pilg… - Theodore Zeldin

The Renaissance… was based on a new idea of the importance of the individual. But this was a fragile foundation, because individuals depended on constant applause and admiration to sustain them. There is a shortage of applause in the world, and there is not enough respect to go around.

A new way of looking is needed in a world which believes that every individual has a right to flower, within limits, in his or her own way.

The fear of loneliness has been like a ball and chain restraining ambition, as much of an obstacle to a full life as persecution, discrimination or poverty. Until the chain is broken, freedom, for many, will remain a nightmare.