“How curious that such an outsize man, in physique as well as personali...” — Margaret MacMillan Quote

“How curious that such an outsize man, in physique as well as personality, should be remembered today mainly for giving his name to a small fish. For the 19th century, Bismarck was no herring but a leviathan. Between 1862 and 1890, he created Germany, seeing off first the Austrian empire and then France.”

“When I first read Barbara Tuchman's 'The Guns of August' in the autumn of 1963, it was as though history went from black and white to Technicolor.”

“Living through times of rapid change can be exhilarating, but it also can be very difficult.”

“There is a difference between being self-interested and being selfish. I will never be selfish.”

“Given a choice between their worldview and the facts, it's always interesting how many people toss the facts.”

“The precise effects of lensing depend on the mass of the lens, the structure of space-time, and the relative distance between us, the lens, and the distant object behind it. It's like a magnifying glass, where the image you get depends on the shape of the lens and how far you hold it from the object you're looking at.”