We human beings are a lot more resilient than we often realize. Resilient and perseverant.

If The Times said it, it was the absolute truth.

A general truth is to have a good sense of humor. Roll with the punches of life's ups and downs. Laughing at yourself always helps.

You know the sting of losing or not getting something you badly want. When that happens show what you are made of.

I think as an investigative reporter I had tough standards, but I don't think of myself as a tough person.

Over the years, I’ve worried that my directness could come off as brusque or my criticisms heard in an outsize way, especially by male colleagues. I sometimes wondered whether expressing even my mildest reservation reminded someone of a chastising mother or complaining wife.

The Obama administration has had seven criminal leak investigations. That is more than twice the number of any previous administration in our history. It's on a scale never seen before. This is the most secretive White House that, at least as a journalist, I have ever dealt with.