I became a journalist partly so that I wouldn't ever have to rely on the press for my information.

I've been to Uganda and to North Korea and to Eritrea, countless horror spots around the world.

I don't regard myself as any kind of conservative, except conceivably neo, and that word, of course, is a ridiculous appellation, because it's used to describe a group that was ready to make war on the status quo, which is not a conservative position.

A sure sign of ineptitude and malice is manifested when one's attacker is willing to cover himself with mud in order to try and make some of it adhere to his target.

One can't indefinitely do for somebody what he is reluctant to do for himself.

Those of us who write and study history are accustomed to its approximations and ambiguities. This is why we do not take literally the tenth-hand reports of frightened and illiterate peasants who claim to have seen miracles or to have had encounters with messiahs and prophets and redeemers who were, like them, mere humans. And this is also why we will never submit to dictation from those who display a fanatical belief in certainty and revelation.

For the people who ostensibly wish me well or are worried about my immortal soul, I say I take it kindly.