My shorthand answer is that I try to write the kind of book that I would like to read. If I can make it clear and interesting and compelling to me, then I hope maybe it will be for the reader.

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

To me history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn't just part of our civic responsibility. To me it's an enlargement of the experience of being alive, just the way literature or art or music is.

Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

Never assume that people in positions of responsibility are behaving responsibly.

Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.

And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life.

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.

Books can change your life. Some of the most influential people in our lives are characters we meet in books.

My wife, the star I steer by.

Courage is contagious. If a leader shows courage, others get the idea.

The spirit calls, I must surrender.

And if my heart was a canvas, every square inch of it would be painted over with you.

Mine is a gruesome job, but for a scientist with a love for the mechanics of the human body, a great one.

Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts, and no one thank.

Digital is the age of empathy.

Hip hop is still strong. As an art form, music helps people express themselves, find meaning in their own lives and connect with their tribes.

I have had a number of less-than-enviable moments in my life when dealing with other people. I won't attempt to blunt that by saying I am not the only one.

I developed a pretty unusual style, I think.

The dove loves when it quarrels; the wolf hates when it flatters.