The difference between a crime of evil and a crime of illness is the difference between a sin and a symptom.

Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.

Now I basically just read spy stories because they're about solving a puzzle within the constraints of history. It's the tick tock, the clockwork that I'm interested in.

That is the paradox of the epidemic: that in order to create one contagious movement, you often have to create many small movements first.

Sometimes [genius] is just the thing that emerges after twenty years of working at your kitchen table.

If you don't contradict yourself on a regular basis, then you're not thinking.

The Rule of 150 says that congregants of a rapidly expanding church, or the members of a social club, or anyone in a group activity banking on the epidemic spread of shared ideals needs to be particularly cognizant of the perils of the bigness. Crossing the 150 line is a small change that can make a big difference.