JOSEPH J. ELLIS

There were more Americans in the British Army during the Revolution than there were in the American Army.

Grand visions, even those as prescient as Washington's, must nevertheless negotiate the damnable particularities that history in the short run tosses up before history in the long run arrives to validate the vision.

Beyond independence, Americans had no consensus on what being an American meant.

I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologize to my family, friends, colleagues and students. Beyond that circle, however, I shall have no further comment.

Lincoln once said that America was founded on a proposition that was written by Jefferson in 1776. We are really founded on an argument about what that proposition means.

I believe I am an honorable man.

And the only thing to do with a sin is to confess, do penance and then, after some kind of decent interval, ask for forgiveness.

Men make history, but they can never know the history they are making.

Some models of self-control are able to achieve their serenity easily because the soul fires never burn brightly to begin with.

Even in the best of lives, mistakes are made.

It is as if Clinton had called one of the most respected character witnesses in all of U.S. history to testify that the primal urge has a most distinguished presidential pedigree.

I believe I am an honorable man.

Even in the best of lives, mistakes are made.

To my three sons, Peter, Scott, and Alexander who pulled me from the 18th Century and back into the present on a regular basis and therefore made me a better person, thank you. And to my wife, who sits at the table there. Who is right about almost everything.

I would say readers can trust my work more than anyone else's.

And the only thing to do with a sin is to confess, do penance and then, after some kind of decent interval, ask for forgiveness.

There were more Americans in the British Army during the Revolution than there were in the American Army.

Beyond independence, Americans had no consensus on what being an American meant.

Some models of self-control are able to achieve their serenity easily because the soul fires never burn brightly to begin with.

Grand visions, even those as prescient as Washington's, must nevertheless negotiate the damnable particularities that history in the short run tosses up before history in the long run arrives to validate the vision.

Lincoln once said that America was founded on a proposition that was written by Jefferson in 1776. We are really founded on an argument about what that proposition means.

Because he could not afford to fail, he could not afford to trust.

Men make history, but they can never know the history they are making.

Chronology, so the saying goes, is the last refuge of the feeble-minded and the only resort for historians.

...the very notion that a candidate should openly solicit votes violated the principled presumption that such behavior itself represented a confession of unworthiness for national office.

I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologize to my family, friends, colleagues and students. Beyond that circle, however, I shall have no further comment.

Washington's task was to transform the improbable into the inevitable.