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

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.

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.

Old reference books are like tree rings. Without them, there'd be no way to know what a tree had lived through.

A maid’s yard, house, wardrobe, fridge, etc. sometimes also serve as her master’s dustbin or dumpsite.

Faith is freedom.

Match your talent with integrity, or your talent might take you places where you lose control, and fall from grace.

your heart is a weapon the size of your fist. keep fighting. keep loving

Anything you want to say about God you better make sure you can say in front of a pit of burning babies.

In America, an acquittal doesn't mean you're innocent, it means you beat the rap. My clients lose even when they win.

I don't know if I'm built for marriage.

Future U.S. political leaders – those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me – may not consider the return on America’s investment in NATO worth the cost.

You should never be ashamed of the suffering you've been through.

I shuddered at the image in my head, at the word feed. But Jasper wasn’t worried about frightening me, not overprotective like Edward always was.