The Terror-Famine of 1932-33 was a dual-purpose by product of collectivization, designed to suppress Ukrainian nationalism and the most important concentration of prosperous peasants at one throw.

[The Poles] will die for their country; but few will work for it.

Most Poles are by temperament 'agin'.

It is indeed the duty of historians to stress the contrast betweenthe standards of the past and the standards of the present. Somefulfil that duty on purpose, others by accident.

Reconstructing the past is rather like translating poetry. It can be done, but never exactly.

The Fascist utopia, like that of the Communists, was false, and generated immense suffering. But there were those who dreamed it sincerely.

The historical profession is nowhere famous for its tolerance, but there are not many countries where historians can expect to pay for their opinions with penal servitude or the firing squad.

Ah, no, he did not want May to have that kind of innocence, the innocence that seals the mind against imagination and the heart against experience...

Within my body are all the sacred places of the world and the most profound pilgrimage that I can ever make is within my own body.

. . . a racer snake / slicking off / like a signature into the weeds.

The best mathematics is serious as well as beautiful—‘important’ if you like, but the word is very ambiguous, and ‘serious’ expresses what I mean much better

It [abstract art] should be enjoyed just as music is enjoyed after a while you may like it or you may not.

I swear to you on any kind of sacred whateverthefuck you favor: if I live through this I will absolutely start taking your advice." "That'll look nice on your headstone.

See, I remember love. That's what people don't understand.

I think this notion of acting and glamour is getting in everybody's way.

The thing about writing is that if you have the impulse, you will find the time.

An appreciation for high fashion does not preclude possession of common sense.