Start with the notion that yours is the sole responsibility unless there's powerful evidence to the contrary

All bad things are exaggerated in the middle of the night. When you lie awake, you only think of bad things.

History isn't what happened, history is just what historians tell us.

Irony ... may be defined as what people miss.

One of the troubles is this: the heart isn't heart-shaped.

History isn't the lies of the victors, as I once glibly assured Old Joe Hunt; I know that now. It's more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious or defeated.

Reading and life are not separate but symbiotic. And for this serious task of imaginative discovery and self-discovery, there is and remains one perfect symbol: the printed book.