I was filled with angst in college, that I struggled with the question of my future, the meaning of my life - spoiled sheltered rich girl collides with great books and is devastated by her own banality.

Festina Lente (Hurry in slowly)

When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation.

As a historian, I have learned that, in fact, not everyone who reaches back into history can survive it. And it is not only reaching back that endangers us; sometimes history itself reaches inexorably forward for us with its shadowy claws.

He brought his great hand to rest on an early edition of Bram Stoker's novel and smiled, but said nothing. Then he moved quietly away into another section.

My guess is that he remembers some of me, some of us together, and the rest rolled off him like topsoil in a flash flood.

These atheist cultures were certainly diligent in preserving the relics of their saints.