Lyndon Johnson, as majority leader of the United States Senate, he made the Senate work

I sometimes feel that if your book sells more than 20 years, then there's something in it that you can say, gee, I did something that endures, that's timeless

You have to be an extremely good reader to appreciate what a good writer is. There are some people who are completely insensitive to good writing.

I was trying to learn about Lyndon Johnson when he was young and creating his first political machine in the Texas hill country. I moved there for three years. You had to learn that world

I write from seven to about noon. I used to try to write longer, but I read and I found that I was always getting myself tired by working in the afternoon and then I was just throwing out what I wrote in the afternoon, so writing then was counterproductive.

Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

I never went to a ballet until I was 45 years old. I don't know why.