Those who knew Lincoln described him as an extraordinarily funny man. Humor was an essential aspect of his temperament. He laughed, he explained, so he did not weep.

Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.

The past is not simply the past, but a prism through which the subject filters his own changing self-image.

That is what leadership is all about: staking your ground ahead of where opinion is and convincing people, not simply following the popular opinion of the moment.

Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.

As a historian, what I trust is my ability to take a mass of information and tell a story shaped around it.

Go ahead, and fear not. You will have a full library at your service.

Better to have your enemies inside your tent pissing out, then to have them outside your tent pissing in.

I still think about that one Jamiroquai video a lot.

Excitement about things became a habit, a part of my personality, and the expectation that I should enjoy new experiences often engendered the enjoyment itself.

Whatever it is that you do, if you have that passion and desire for it, that's the most important thing.

A warm soak can wash away life’s worries and soothe an active mind. Choose self-care.

Fatigue, discomfort, discouragement are merely symptoms of effort.

Who are we to question God’s decisions about where we’ll be born?…God does what He chooses without asking our opinions. Of that I’m sure.

Love is not 'blind' but visionary: It sees into the very heart of its object And sees the 'real self' behind and in the midst Of the frailties and shortcomings of the person.

We are the custodians of life's meaning.

Bless my soul,” whispered the old bartender, “Harry Potter . . . what an honor.

A man can convince anyone hes someone else but never himself.

If you care about the people you work with then you work harder

I came to poetry because I felt I couldn't live properly in the real world.

Man suffers through lack of faith in God.