However little television you watch, watch less.

The great thing about the arts is that you can only learn to do it by doing it.

The pull, the attraction of history, is in our human nature. What makes us tick? Why do we do what we do? How much is luck the deciding factor?

I think it is one of the most extraordinary elections, a turning point for our country and for the world. That remarkable young man [Barack Obama] has kept his demeanor, kept his temperament and has shown a power to inspire. I see what energy that he has inspired among the young. Well, it inspires us old goats too.

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.

I had been writing for about twelve years. I knew pretty well how you could find things out, but I had never been trained in an academic way how to go about the research.

Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard.