If Everyone Is Special, Then No One

People Often Ask Me If I'm Working On A Book. That's Not How I Feel. I Feel Like I Work In A Book. It's Like Putting Myself Under A Spell. And This Spell, If You Will, Is So Real To Me That If I Have To Leave My Work For A Few Days, I Have To Work Myself Back Into The Spell When I Come Back. It's Almost Like Hypnosis.

When You Start To Write, Things Begin To Come Into Focus In A Way They Don't When You're Not Writing. It's A Very Good Way To Find Out How Much You Don't Know Because You Learn Specifically What You Need To Know That You Don't Know At The Moment By Writing.

History Is About Life. It's Awful When The Life Is Squeezed Out Of It And There's No Flavor Left, No Uncertainties, No Horsing Around. It Always Disturbed Me How Many Biographers Never Gave Their Subjects A Chance To Eat. You Can Tell A Lot About People By How They Eat, What They Eat, And What Kind Of Table Manners They Have.

Find Something To Do That You Love Because Then The Work Itself Is Always The Reward Not The Recompense. And If You Love What You're Doing You Probably Do Better At It Than Doing Something You Don't Love And Therefore You'll Be Compensated Appropriately.

Let The Children Have Their Night Of Fun And Laughter. Let The Gifts Of Father Christmas Delight Their Play. Let Us Grown-ups Share To The Full In Their Unstinted Pleasures Before We Turn Again To The Stern Task And The Formidable Years That Lie Before Us, Resolved That, By Our Sacrifice And Daring, These Same Children Shall Not Be Robbed Of Their Inheritance Or Denied Their Right To Live In A Free And Decent World." Winston Churchill Christmas Eve Message, 1941 As Printed In "in The Dark Streets Shineth.