The Afghan government is much better informed, much more intrusive and ambitious than I had guessed. There are amazing craftsmen in Kabul but few des…

- Rory Stewart

Change can only come from local citizens and politicians - it cannot be imposed by well-meaning foreigners - not least because a society like Afghani…

- Rory Stewart

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

- Rory Stewart

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 wit…

- Rory Stewart

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

- Rory Stewart

This idea that failure is not an option: It makes failure invisible, inconceivable and inevitable.

- Rory Stewart

I left things out - my motivations, my history, my emotional responses - because I am not good at understanding them or writing about them. I tried a…

- Rory Stewart

In the mountains, travelers were reduced to the speed of men on foot. Here, the ancient English sense of journey, 'a day's travel' (French journee), …

- Rory Stewart

Religions . . . seem to avoid mountain passes.

- Rory Stewart