Public interest in most of the Middle East was slight at that time; the Arab-Israeli conflict was all that people were interested in and that was not my specialty.

If you put your politicians up for sale, as the US does (alone in this among industrialized democracies), then someone will buy them--and it won’t be you; you can’t afford them.

I argued that the Bush administration, and the Coalition officials more recently, didn't understand Iraqi society. They thought it was a blank slate, that they could use Iraqis as guinea pigs.

Administering another country is always a very tricky proposition.

My main expertise is in the past, but if I have to extrapolate into the future, I would say: no good news any time soon and an obvious exit strategy is not apparent to me.

I don't accept the argument of people like David Horowitz that the government should impose some sort of predetermined political balance on academic research.

It's not proper for a professor to go before a class and promote one party or another. That's not academic scholarship.

Partisan politics has no place in the classroom.

I also argued before the war that the administration was underestimating Arab nationalism and Iraqi nationalism, that it was not going to be as easy to rule Iraq as they thought.

I think it's really unfortunate that academics have been sidelined in most important policy debates.

An occupying power has no right to make significant alterations in the character of the occupied society, to change the laws all around, without a strong security reason and so forth.

Whatever the response to loss and tragedy, the experience seems to boil down to one journey--searching for Jesus.

Have an objective in life! Or you feel lost in life!

Calamities that are not the result of purely natural phenomena usually have their origins, distant and obscure though they may be, in common human failings.

What I have crossed out I didn't like. What I haven't crossed out I'm dissatisfied with.

You have to try to push yourself to the limit. You can't worry about making a mistake. If you worry about it, you'll lose.

I sought neither preeminence, glory, nor riches; my honor was that Jesus Christ should reign.

Praying doesn't mean repeating a prayer.

Our greatest strength comes not from what we possess, but from what we believe; not from what we have, but from who we are.

I don't want every fan; I'm interested in fans interested in quality work, authentic archetype depictions.

I am looking for suggestions on what we can do about extremists within our own society. They cannot be ignored.