An action doesn't have to be wrong just because it is not logical. It doesn't have to be right just because it has its logic.

After closely examining my conscience, I venture to state that in my historical novels I intended the content to be just as modern and up-to-date as in the contemporary ones.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific.

Ever since my youth it has disturbed me that of the literary works that survived their own epoch, so many dealt with historical rather than contemporary subjects.

There's only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's no road leading from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Like the philosopher, the author views his task as one of establishing a clear connection between life and history, and of making the past bear fruit for the present and future.

What is a historian, anyway? It is someone who uses facts to record the development of humanity.

I have always made an effort to render every detail of my reality with the greatest accuracy; but I have never paid attention to whether my presentation of historical facts was an exact one.

From depicting the past, so goes the suspicion, it is a short step to glorifying the past.

It is only the strong who are strengthened by suffering; the weak are made weaker.

People would rather believe than know.

There is a thin line between self-love and self-hate. When you are at the self-hate side, make sure to cross the line and stay away from it forever.

The caterpillar they despise today is the butterfly they praise tomorrow.

And I just walked away. Again and again, I walked away as her world fell down around her. As they destroyed her. We destroyed her.

I didn't like the way I was let go from Metallica.

Never so long as you live, write a letter to a man - no matter who he is - that you would be ashamed to see in a newspaper above your signature.

Fortune converts everything to the advantage of her favorites.

In spite of all this noise, customers are still definitely buying in North America, and they're really, really buying internationally.

Good journalism is good business practice; good business supports great journalism.

I would never date or marry an actress. I will marry the girl of my mom's choice.