“Aristotle may be regarded as the cultural barometer of Western history. Whenever his influence dominated the scene, it paved the way for one of history's brilliant eras; whenever it fell, so did mankind.”

“Whenever I think about ancient cultures nostalgia seizes me. Perhaps this is nothing but envy of the sweet slowness of the history of that time. The era of ancient Egyptian culture lasted for several thousand years; the era of Greek antiquity for almost a thousand. In this respect, a single human life imitates the history of mankind; at first it is plunged into immobile slowness, and then only gradually does it accelerate more and more.”

“One of the greatest tragedies in mankind's entire history may be that morality was hijacked by religion.”

“Whenever someone implies that history is boring, I bring up Napoleon's penis.”

“Whenever anyone tells me that history's boring, I bring up Napoleon's penis.”

“…a cynic who was still saddened whenever his jaundiced view of mankind was confirmed...”