Herman Brown was a businessman who wanted value for money spent. His relationships with politicians were measured by that criterion.

At the ballet, you really feel like you're in the presence of something outside the rest of your life. Higher than the rest of your life.

I never wanted to do biography just to tell the life of a famous man. I always wanted to use the life of a man to examine political power, because democracy shapes our lives

The Senate is an unknowing world

Power doesn't always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals.

Robert Moses wasn't elected to anything. We're taught that in a democracy power comes from being elected. He had more power than anyone, and he held it for 48 years

The moment the curtain rose on that first ballet, I knew something wonderful and new had come into my life. I can still see the first scene. The ballet was Divertimento No. 15

The New York City Ballet is obviously speaking to a whole new generation and bringing it the same wonder and beauty that it brought previous generations

Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.

I deliberately made an effort not to become an expert on the ballet.

I don't think of my books as being biographies. I never had any interest in doing a book just to write the life of a great man. I had zero interest in that. My interest is in power. How power works.

Holding on to grudges holds you back from achieving success.

his had disappeared. “Did you know they have mystical powers?”

Disappointments are often my greatest motivation.

Harry Potter set Dobby free!" "Least I could do, Dobby", said Harry, grinning. "Just promise never to try and save my life again.

Block out all the negative energy, and just love.

Great God of the Ants, thou hast granted victory to thy servants. I appoint thee honorary Colonel.

There is more honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood.

Is there something inside of you that is favoring peace? Because if there is, then congratulations: you are a human being. You have just reached, and felt, your most fundamental want.

Take what you want, and pay for it.

Vegetarians may be appalled, but much of gardening is actually raising animals: the tiny ones under the earth's surface