We are flawed creatures, all of us. Some of us think that means we should fix our flaws. But get rid of my flaws and there would be no one left.
I guess if I had to pick a spiritual figurehead to possess the deed to the entirety of Earth, I’d go with Buddha, but only because he wouldn’t want it.
The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief. And by dangerous I don’t mean thought-provoking. I mean: might get people killed.
You know you’ve reached a new plateau of group mediocrity when even a Canadian is alarmed by your lack of individuality.
Acts 16:9 is the meddler’s motto, simultaneously selfless and self-serving, generous but stuck-up. Into every generation of Americans is born a new crop of buttinskys sniffing out the latest Macedonia that may or may not want their help.
History is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between.
The more history I learn, the more the world fills up with stories.
In the United States, there was no simpler, more agreeable time.
You know your country has a checkered past when you find yourself sitting around pondering the humanitarian upside of sticking with the British Empire.
Still, compared to him, compared to the people we descend from, I am free of history. I’m so free of history I have to get in a car and drive seven states to find it.
…there’s nothing more depressing than bad capitalism.
The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief.
…the air has that bracing autumnal bite so that all you want to do is bob for apples or hang a witch or something.
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Civil War – when I really think about them, they all seem about as likely as the parting of the Red Sea.
History is full of really good stories. That’s the main reason I got into this racket: I want to make the argument that history is interesting.