The smile

Ryszard Kapuscinski 
1932 - 2007

More than anything, one is struck by the smile. Always the same smile, everywhere, as if that face were never sad, worried or angry. And if it wasn't smiling, it was pensive or focused instead. Or sheepish. «I'm not disturbing you, am I?» he would ask whenever, whether unhrealded or even if expected, he dropped in at the newspaper office and stopped by someone's desk or room. And there was that smile again: apologetic, very slightly embarrassed. It was a defensive smile that kept the door open for retreat.

Artur Domoslawsky, in Ryszard Kapuscinski - A Life