Anyone who says he knows God's intention is showing a lot of very human ego.

The purpose of history is to explain the present - to say why the world around us is the way it is. History tells us what is important in our world, and how it came to be. It tells us what is to be ignored, or discarded. That is true power - profound power. The power to define a whole society.

Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It can't be given away : it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline.

You know what's wrong with scientific power? It's a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are.

We think we know what we are doing. We have always thought so.

The academic world was marching toward ever more specialized knowledge, expressed in ever more dense jargon.

Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.