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

There's an awful temptation to just keep on researching. There comes a point where you just have to stop, and start writing.

I often think of that when I hear people say that they haven't time to read.

Once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I wanted to do in my life. Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project.

Nobody ever lived in the past.

The source of our suffering has been our timidity. We have been afraid to think....Let us dare to read, think, speak, write.

History is not just about dates and quotations. And it's not just about politics, the military and social issues, though much of it of course is about that. It's about everything. It's about life history. It's human. And we have to see it that way. We have to teach it that way. We have to read it that way. It's about art, music, literature, money, science, love - the human experience.