Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It's not as if we had a choice.

I spend a lot of my time talking to the dead, but since I get paid for it, no one thinks I'm mad.

Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It's not as if we had a choice.

History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it.

You don't get on by being original. You don't get on by being bright. You don't get on by being strong. You get on by being a subtle crook.

But an experienced reader is also a self-aware and critical reader. I can't remember ever reading a story without judging it.

No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war. They're not affordable things. No prince ever says, 'This is my budget, so this is the kind of war I can have.