There's only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but there's no road leading from the ridiculous to the sublime.

After closely examining my conscience, I venture to state that in my historical novels I intended the content to be just as modern and up-to-date as in the contemporary ones.

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.

I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific.

Ever since my youth it has disturbed me that of the literary works that survived their own epoch, so many dealt with historical rather than contemporary subjects.

An action doesn't have to be wrong just because it is not logical. It doesn't have to be right just because it has its logic.

Like the philosopher, the author views his task as one of establishing a clear connection between life and history, and of making the past bear fruit for the present and future.

What is a historian, anyway? It is someone who uses facts to record the development of humanity.

I have always made an effort to render every detail of my reality with the greatest accuracy; but I have never paid attention to whether my presentation of historical facts was an exact one.

From depicting the past, so goes the suspicion, it is a short step to glorifying the past.

It is only the strong who are strengthened by suffering; the weak are made weaker.

Although it's good to have talent, character is so much important because bad character is an enemy for great talent.

A prudent man will think more important what fate has conceded to him than what it has denied.

I have reached a limit in my work.

With "Let's Dance," there was actually a chance that I was actually going to be able to keep the money I had made.

I feel I should never do passive characters. They don't work for me.

We want to live in ambiguity. This is the human condition.

Secrecy sets barriers between men, but at the same time offers the seductive temptation to break through the barriers by gossip or confession.

Generosity could be as contagious as the zombie plague as long as enough people were willing to be carriers.

I really forget that I have no arms or legs sometimes.

People just don't laugh when their family is violated, and you don't shrug it off. You band together and you defend together. It's a funny, primitive instinct.