[History is] the very servant of the servants of God, the drudge of all the drudges.

About the scientific revolution: it "outshines everything since the rise of Christianity and reduces the Renaissance and Reformation to the rank of mere episodes".

The study of the past with one eye upon the present is the source of all sins and sophistries in history. It is the essence of what we mean by the word "unhistorical."

If history can do anything it is to remind us that all our judgments are merely relative to time and circumstance.

It is not a sin to introduce a personal bias that can be recognized and discounted. The sin in historical composition is the organization of the story in such a way that bias cannot be recognized.

The task of the historian is to understand the peoples of the past better than they understand themselves.

Those people work more wisely who seek to achieve good in their own small corner of the world ... than those who are forever thinking that life is in vain, unless one can. do big things.

Perhaps history is a thing that would stop happening if God held His breath, or could be imagined as turning away to think of something else.

In the last resort, sheer insight is the greatest asset of all.

The raconteur knows too well that, if he investigates the truth of the matter, he is only too likely to lose his good story.

Those people work more wisely who seek to achieve good in their own small corner of the world ... than those who are forever thinking that life is in vain unless one can ... do big things.

Fear of confronting emotions is like fear of reading road signs.

There was no way a world as corrupted as this could be saved or all of the wrongdoers punished.

If s/he is intimidated by your achievements so far, s/he shouldn't be in your future because s/he cannot handle what is coming...

My country tis of thee, to take swings at each other on talk show TV.

Good basketball always starts with good defense!

What is a normal childhood? We weren't rich, we were pretty middle-class. My dad survived from job to job; with him taking care of so many relatives, he couldn't save any money.

I try to write about things, places, events, and phenomena I know about personally. That helps make the novels more genuine.

Overwhelmingly strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie around us... the atheistic idea is so nonsensical that I cannot put it into words.

For me, thats one of the important things about cooking. What was good enough yesterday may not be good enough today.

I think I've inherited a kind ofwillfulness, a kind of quiet willfulness that I'll just hang in there with something until it happens.