History was not a matter of missing minutes on the tape. I did not stand helpless before it. I hewed to the texture of collected knowledge, took faith from the solid and availing stuff of our experience. Even if we believe that history is a workwheel powered by human blood -- read the speeches of Mussolini -- at least we've known the thing together. A single narrative sweep, not ten thousand wisps of disinformation. (82)

What you see is not what we see. What you see is distracted by memory, by being who you are, all this time, for all these years.

Pain is just another form of information.

I am ashamed every day, and more ashamed the next. But I will spend the rest of my life in this living space writing these notes, this journal, recording my acts and reflections, finding some honor, some worth at the bottom of things. I want ten thousand pages that will stop the world.

As technology advances in complexity and scope, fear becomes more primitive.

I've got death inside me. It's just a question of whether or not I can outlive it.

People think about who they are in the stillest hour of the night.