The mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization.

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.

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

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.

Politics is theater. It doesn't matter if you win. You make a statement. You say, "I'm here, pay attention to me

Better a crust of black bread than a mountain of paper confections, Better a daisy in earth than a dahlia cut and gathered, Better a cowslip with root than a prize carnation without it

I think a woman can have all of the ideas and mental pictures. She can be a real planner and a motivator. But in the end, I think a woman does best when she responds to a man.

Vivienne Westwood makes such beautifully structured clothes that are especially flattering if you are curvy.

It's so much easier to give advice than to take it.

In Spain people have lunch and dinner a lot later - when I return to England I'll have to eat alone at midnight.

Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot.

First ask why, and decide whether something is worth doing. Only after that should you set about doing it as well as you can.

Those who still eat flesh when they could do otherwise have no claim to be serious moralists.

For human beings, the most daunting challenge is to become fully human. For to become fully human is to become fully divine.