No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. – Epictetus
Television is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome. – T. S. Eliot
The thing that most attracts me to historical fiction is taking the factual record as far as it is known, using that as scaffolding, and then letting imagination build the structure that fills in those things we can never find out for sure. – Geraldine Brooks
Politically, Obamas amazing streak of self-destructing opponents who have lain beneath his feet during his unlikely political career appears to be holding. – Eric Alterman
