"I really believe that what happens one day affects the next, and I think that came from that experience of learning that if I told the score inning by inning, play by play, it built up to its natural climax."

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

"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."

"The only protection as a historian is to institute a process of research and writing that minimizes the possibility of error. And that I have tried to do, aided by modern technology, which enables me, having long since moved beyond longhand, to use a computer for both organizing and taking notes."

"The greatest journey starts when the light of knowledge dispels the darkness of ignorance."

"You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve."

"Everything that goes on at Area 51 is classified 'top secret' when it's going on."

"Wisdom principle 63 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 32."