Social science virtually abhors the event. Not without reason; the short-term is the most capricious and deceptive form of time.

Happiness, whether in business or private life, leaves little trace in history.

History may be divided into three movements: what moves rapidly, what moves slowly and what appears not to move at all.

All history must be mobilized if one would understand the present.

There are always some areas world history does not reach, zones of silence and undisturbed ignorance.

The mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization.

The earth is, like our own skin, fated to carry the scars of ancient wounds.

There were two, three or four French Revolutions. Like a multi-stage rocket today, the Revolution involved several successive explosions and propellant thrusts.

Leadership of a world-economy is an experience of power which may blind the victor to the march of history.

For a century, the Arabs tribes gave Islam the first of these victories. Then the rough mountain peoples of North Africa, the Berbers, helped it to conquer Spain and organize Fatimid Egypt.

Civilization is in fact the longest story of all. Civilization can persist through a series of economies.

Neuroanatomy, political history, and introspection all offer evidence that human beings are quite capable of resisting the urge to surrender to every impulse of reptilian core of brain.

There's nothing that can defy the law of movement. Everything was created to move including the biggest of our mountains.

Different roads sometimes lead to the same castle.

Meeting Australian mountaineer and author Tim Macartney-Snape when I was 16 in 1994 had a big impact on me. His ascent of Everest from sea to summit captured my imagination.

Imagination is essential and it comes first, for without imagination we are aimless.

When they were naming the animals, somebody got lazy: anteater? What's it doing? It's eating ants. DONE!

In activity we must find our joy as well as glory; and labor, like everything else that is good, is its own reward.

The word 'question' is derived from the Latin quaerere 'to seek,' which is the same root as the word for quest. A creative life is a continued quest, and good questions are useful guides.

I expect an energy bill to increase and diversify supply and stabilize energy prices - not drive up energy costs in one part of the country to subsidize energy in another region.

The last thing I think about is losing and pressure... I just go and do it.