Civics is in fact politics, and politics is how things work not only in the political realm but in every other realm. It may be this simple mechanical glitch that unites everything. This is my philosophy.

The flame is not out, but it is flickering.

There are no ordinary lives.

There is no communication in this world except between equals.

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have a terrific episode, but if people are falling out because there are just too many elements in it, you have to begin to get rid of things.

Like a layer on a pearl, you can't specifically identify the irritant, the moment of the irritant, but at the end of the day, you know you have a pearl.

You can learn as much about the history from reading about the present as you can vice versa, that is learning about the present through history, which is what I do for a living.