God existed before He made anything else, and He Himself was never made. God is eternal.
My mother, who was quite sharp when I was young, became utterly mild.
The clue to book jacket photography is to look friendly and approachable, but not too glamorous.
It can be a long gap between the emergence of fully researched historical biographies.
I love hearing details of writers' craft, as cannibals eat the brains of clever men to get cleverer.
That is my major concern: writers who are in prison for writing.
Lives in previous centuries for women are largely a matter of class. It would have been fun to have been a rich, privileged woman in the 18th century, but no fun at all to be her maid.
One can acquire certainty only by amputating inquiry.
Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.
Wisdom is seldom gained without suffering.
I had to sign the paper to shut down the government. It's terrible. . . . [But] what the shutdown showed many, many people is the importance of the role of government. And as frustrated [as people get with] Washington, there are so many things [the government does] that are so important to people's lives every day. The panda cam, paying small businesses their loans - these are all things that shut down.