Epidemics follow patterns because diseases follow patterns. Viruses spread; they reproduce; they die.

When carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense is understood NOT as a failure of civil society, to be mourned, but as an act of citizenship, to be vaunted, there is little civilian life left.

Nineteenth-century grass-roots populism made twentieth-century progressivism possible.

The study of history requires investigation, imagination, empathy, and respect. Reverence just doesnt enter into it.

History is a long and endlessly interesting argument, where evidence is everything and storytelling is everything else.

Why do beautiful women love ugly men?

Mainly, the more faddish and newer stages of life are really just marketing schemes. Tweenhood. The young old. The quarter-life crisis.

Germ theory, which secularized infectious disease, had a side effect: it sacralized epidemiology.

Stages of life are artifacts. Adolescence is a useful contrivance, midlife is a moving target, senior citizens are an interest group, and tweenhood is just plain made up.

In kindergarten, you can learn how to be a citizen of the world.

Folklore used to be passed by word of mouth, from one generation to the next; thats what makes it folklore, as opposed to, say, history, which is written down and stored in an archive.

All knowledge meets an end at the question '...Why?

Great habits sharpen our thoughts and make us great.

Loyalty is a characteristic trait. Those who has it, gives it free of charge.

The problem is, the more famous you get, the more people see you who didn't choose to.

That was excellent! I mean, it didn't do anything, but it looked really cool!

Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!

You want diversity in any intellectual organization. I mean, that's how good ideas arise.

There are always new, grander challenges to confront, and a true winner will embrace each one.

Things that you cannot face in yourself you will hate when you see them in someone else.

I taught myself more in the library than school taught me.