One of the most difficult things for a writer in this business to accept is the uncertain fate of one's work.

In science, the old men are usually wrong. But in politics, the old men are wise, counsel caution, and in the end are often right.

Story of our species...everyone knows it's coming, but not so soon.

Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That's the game in science.

Considering that we live in an era of evolutionary everything---evolutionary biology, evolutionary medicine, evolutionary ecology, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary economics, evolutionary computing---it was surprising how rarely people thought in evolutionary terms. It was a human blind spot. We look at the world around us as a snapshot when it was really a movie, constantly changing.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

It's hard to decide who's truly brilliant; it's easier to see who's driven, which in the long run may be more important.