My big struggle is how people can not care, erase, not remember.

When I select a topic, it's usually a commitment of two to three years of my life

I do believe in God. I think God has given so much power to people, and intelligence, and said, 'Well, you are on your own. Maybe I'm tired, I need a nap. You are mature. Why don't you look after yourselves?' And I think He's been sleeping too much.

I want my prose to be as clear as a pane of glass.

The problem is fundamental... It is as if a secret committee, now lost to history, has made a study of children and, having figured out what the greatest number were least disposed to declared that all of them should do it.

... "You may not see the ocean, but right now we are in the middle of the ocean, and we have to keep swimming.

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.