History attempts to provide society with an artificial collective memory.

A historian is interested in the past because he is interested in life... a deeply felt need to assure the continuity of human life and discover its meaning, even if the goal is never fully realized.

[T]he historian and the detective have much in common.

Diminishing returns is the outcome of restriction

You may have some scars from the past but this will fade away in time.

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

Oh soul, you worry too much. Your arms are heavy with treasures of all kinds.

I can't think of anything when I'm depressed. I just want to be alone.

Is it life, I ask, is it even prudence, To bore thyself and bore the students?

Dare to be a sucky skateboarder or a lousy video editor or a completely crappy golfer. If we do only the stuff we’re good at, we never learn anything new.

We are on a mission: we are called to the cultivation of the earth .

In two words," said Alan quietly, "there is nothing I love half as much as you.

If we have wealth, it will be protected from inflation and possibly even enhanced in value.