Janine di Giovanni

“In the aftermath of any war or genocide, healing and reconciliation are ultimate aspirations.”

“Any protester knows that the only way activism works is to get the people on your side.”

“Nonviolence worked in Serbia, and it can work in other countries seeking their freedom.”

“Even as a small child, I wondered why the Dominican nuns who educated me were subservient to the Jesuit priests who educated my brothers.”

“I know being pregnant and giving birth is the most wonderful thing on Earth. I know that after you have a baby, there is a sense of addiction, a need to have another. It's biological.”

“I did not read newspapers until I became a reporter.”

“There is a romantic, often misguided, misconception among the British that life in France is akin to life in Paradise.”

“Manhattan is increasingly less available to average-income earners.”

“Human memory is short and terribly fickle.”

“It's always disappointing to come across phony do-gooders. And it's easy to scoff at celebrities working in war zones.”

“I spent a good part of the nineties roaming the Earth writing about conflict. It was very grueling. I was beginning to find this way of life was, wow, addictive and deeply meaningful.”

“Posttraumatic stress is something that's always existed. I think that the earliest recording was during the Trojan War, but it's only recently that we're beginning to be aware of it.”

“The pope is an intelligent man and realizes that time marches on. He says the Church has a long way to go in developing a real strategy that integrates women - but clearly he is baffled as to how to do it.”

“Every time the Catholic Church takes one step forward, it seems to take one giant step back.”

“I often think I am a better person because I lived for many years of my life with a flashlight. I have developed skills I did not think were possible - bathing with a cup of water by candlelight, for instance, and writing a story with a headlamp on.”