History, we can confidently assert, is useful in the sense that art and music, poetry and flowers, religion and philosophy are useful. Without it - as with these - life would be poorer and meaner; without it we should be denied some of those intellectual and moral experiences which give meaning and richness to life. Surely it is no accident that the study of history has been the solace of many of the noblest minds of every generation.

The Americans who framed our Constitution felt that without freedom of religion no other freedom counted.

We should not forget that our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past ... while we silence the rebels of the present.

Its awfully hard to be the son of a great man and also of a half-crazy woman.

If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent.

To yearn for a single, and usually simple, explanation of the chaotic materials of the past, to search for a single thread in that most tangled of all skeins, is a sign of immaturity.

What every college must do is hold up before the young the spectacle of greatness.