A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you.

The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name.

When I was living in England I found that the more I lived abroad, the more American I discovered I was.

Our American past always speaks to us with two voices: the voice of the past, and the voice of the present. We are always asking two quite different questions. Historians reading the words of John Winthrop usually ask, What did they mean to him? Citizens ask, What do they mean to us? Historians are trained to seek the original meaning; all of us want to know the present meaning.

More appealing than knowledge itself is the feeling of knowledge.

The mind is a vagrant thing.... Thinking is not analogous to a person working in a laboratory who invents something on company time.

As you make your bed, so you must lie in it.