I always want to write something better than the last book.

Public education rests precariously on the skill and virtue of the people at the bottom of the institutional pyramid.

I always want to write something better than the last book.

I am grateful to Stacy Schiff first of all because she can write a sentence-because she offers us her scholarship with wit, clarity, and grace. Once again, she has done what only the best writers can do: she has made the world new, again.

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative

That's when I feel most alive, he told me once on an airplane, when I'm helping people.

I've gotta keep life and computers separate, or else I'm gonna go mad.