A combination of all that was best in the gladdest days of the departing year.

The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads.

Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would never have thought about if I was busy romping around with a brother and sister.

I never cared what kind of grade I got.

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.

A combination of all that was best in the gladdest days of the departing year.

I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears.