We demonstrated what you could do when a band of entrepreneurs settles an empty country with vast resources. The Chinese have a billion people and are running out of water. Tougher problem for sure.

The evolution was always to greater scale and speed. Other countries did that here and there - GB in textiles, Germany in steel - but we went in that direction almost across the board.

The Transcontinental Railroad Act is the first step in creating a continental common market.

My neck is too arthritic to snap around. The big shift in my perspective that happened in the writing process, however, was the paramount importance of the "West" epitomized by Cincinnati.

We were suddenly getting big, with burgeoning capabilities on all sides, but very clumsy, knew we were on some kind of ride, and things changing fast, but with very little idea of what was going on.

I think it was the occasion of the final psychological break with Great Britain, in a way that had clearly not happened to that date, especially in New England and to som degree in the South.

The War of 1812 perhaps the least remembered of American wars because it was fought in such a left-handed slapdash manner on both sides.

Credit is the air that financial markets breathe, and when the air is poisoned, there's no place to hide.

No specific technology. My guess is that it was the instinct always to go to maximum scale. Great Britain kept much more of a small shop mindset well into the twentieth century, for instance.

For just a few dollars registration, you got temporary possession of a good piece of land. Live on it for five years, build a house, and farm it, and it was yours. What a brilliant economic stimulus!

Our prayers are granted as soon as we have prayed, even though the process of fulfilling our requests has not yet begun.

You have to think anyway, so why not think big?

Let's go to Brunch. What a great idea! Why would you want to sleep in on a Sunday when you can go pay $18 for eggs? Now, you're thinking.

Everything that you do or say that raises the self-esteem of another raises yours as well.

In some ways, I'm relieved that I didn't have a son.

It's always good to have your fan base and to continue to do what you love to do and making a living and seeing the people and travel and do everything, it's always a great thing for me.

What I want to do more than anything as president of the United States is to restore the honor and dignity and respect that this country is owed around the world.

Babies are endlessly fascinating to look at and I'm obsessed about their complete and utter lack of guile.

Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we ain't stopped yet. There's more exploration to come.

I think the important thing about staying creative and staying sharp and original is not to look back too much.