A confused and weak man hides his weakness and uncertainty with fiery speeches.

Almost alone among successful politicians, he took slights personally.

A candidate with no experience they would package as a citizen politician, a lifetime hack as an elder statesman.

Violent crimes had increased from 120 per 100, 000 in 1962 180 per 100, 000 by 1964.

For the first time on Planet Earth (in 1964 America), a nation was made up of more college students than farmers. An unheard-of 42% of high school graduates sought higher education.

Rebelling against the status quo was one of the definitions of conservatism.

(President) Lyndon Johnson still snapped between exultation and insecurity.

Goldwater had never even considered a non-Arizonan. Like a man on his deathbed, he wanted to be surrounded only by friends.

Goldwater hardly ever mentioned a statistic. He hardly ever used it EXAMPLE. He presumed you already knew what he meant. Reagan SHOWED you.

Goldwater's approach to any political problem invariably derived from the evidence of his own eyes.

Ronald Reagan was just as angry. But he made you want to stand right alongside him and shake your fist at the same things he was shaking his fist at.

One pain is lessened by another’s anguish. ... Take thou some new infection to thy eye, And the rank poison of the old will die.

The compensation we receive from employment is not enough for the time being wasted

Always believe that life is amazing.

The artists are the most powerful ones, the creators, first are the painters, working without words, second are the music composers, and third are the writers.

Learn to feel sorry for music because, although it is the international language, it has no swear words.

Politics will sooner or later make fools of everybody.

Talent is some one faculty unusually developed; genius commands all the faculties.

Whole swaths of the book [Lincoln in the Bardo] are made up of verbatim quotes from various historical sources, which I cut up and rearranged to form part of the narrative.

There are two types of people in this world: one who opens a packet of biscuits, has one and puts the rest back in the cupboard, and one who eats the whole packet in one go.

My mum said she remembers me asking her if she'd take me to ballet lessons when I was about two and a half. She said I could barely speak, and yet was asking for ballet lessons.