I'd like to come back to the West eventually. In the end abroad I am always a stranger, … - Rory Stewart

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The trouble with words is that you never know whose mouths they've been in.

Rory Stewart

I'd like to come back to the West eventually. In the end abroad I am always a stranger, active politics in particular is not accessible to me and although people are generous, I can never be on the inside of a culture that relies a great deal on the private space and the family.

Active, Although, Culture, People, Stranger

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Democracy is not simply a question of structures. It is a state of mind. It is an activity.

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

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I do a lot of work with policymakers, but how much effect am I having? It’s like they’re coming in and saying to you, ‘I’m going to drive my car off a cliff. Should I or should I not wear a seatbelt?’ And you say, ‘I don’t think you should drive your car off the cliff. ’ And they say, ‘No, no, that bit’s already been decided—the question is whether to wear a seatbelt. ’ And you say, ‘Well, you might as well wear a seatbelt. ’ And then they say, ‘We’ve consulted with policy expert Rory Stewart and he says. . . . ’

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I found incredible kindness, dignity and hospitality in both Iraq and Afghanistan - am only alive because of it - the most worthwhile lesson of a twenty month walk to these countries was a deepening appreciation of the kindness of strangers.

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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.

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