"A good place to understand the present, and to ask questions about the future, is on the ground, traveling as slowly as possible." (Preface, xiii)

"With the political ground shifting rapidly under one's feet, the map, though not determinative, is the beginning of discerning a historical logic about what might come next." (Preface, xviii)

"The Berlin Wall's erasure made us blind to the real geographical impediments that still divided us, and still awaited us." (Chapter I, 3)

"In other words, true realism is an art more than a science, in which the temperament of a statesman plays as much of a role as his intellect." (Chapter II, 24)

"Geography is the backdrop to human history itself." (Chapter II, 28)

"I wish to argue for a modest acceptance of fate, secured ultimately in the facts of geography, in order to curb excessive zeal in foreign policy, a zeal of which I myself...