“I've figured out in the course of my life that the one thing I'm good ...” — Francis Fukuyama Quote

“I've figured out in the course of my life that the one thing I'm good at doing is writing books, and it would be crazy to trade that in for something else.”

“The rationale for tenure is still valid. But the system has turned the academy into one of the most conservative and costly institutions in the country. Yes, conservative: Economists joke that their discipline advances one funeral at a time, but many fields must wait for wholesale generational turnover before new approaches take hold.”

“I've always had a Marxist understanding of history: democracy is a result of a broad modernization process that happens in every country. Neocons think the use of political power can force the pace of change, but ultimately it depends on societies doing it themselves.”

“I'm basically an optimist because I do think there's this historical modernisation process, and by and large it's been very beneficial to people. But there are blips. History doesn't proceed in a linear way.”

“In general, Americans are not very good at nation-building and not very good colonialists.”

“I'm a pretty early riser, so I'm sort of the queen of five A.M. I love getting up early. It's how I've written most of my books - that hour and a half before my kids are up.”

“The digital revolution has disrupted most traditional media: newspapers, magazines, books, record companies, radio.”

“I know many books which have bored their readers, but I know of none which has done real evil.”

“One of the first books that outlined spiritual mapping was 'Breaking Strongholds in Your City: How to Use Spiritual Mapping to Make your Prayers More Strategic, Effective and Targeted,' published in 1993.”

“When I lived in China, there were no libraries. My mother bought books for me, and they were mostly the classics. I read 'Peter Pan,' 'The Secret Garden,' the 'Rosemary' books, and Kipling's 'Just So' Stories was one of my favorites. No, I didn't read historical fiction. It didn't exist where I was growing up in China.”

“One of the things I love, and I'm a voracious reader as well as a writer, is books that surprise me, that are not predictable.”