“History is a record of "effects" the vast majority of which nobody intended to produce.”

“Does history record any case in which the majority was right?”

“Can a story be good only if it produces an effect? If the effect is a bad one, but intended, has the story done its job? Is it then a good story? If the story produces an effect other than the intended one, is it then a bad story? Can a story be said to produce an effect at all? Can a story actually do anything at all? ”

“Though biomedical science has vastly increased mankind’s average life expectancy, the maximum has not changed in verifiable recorded history.”

“The vast majority of those who are famous are not significant and the vast majority of those who are significant are not famous.”

“History was like some vast thing that was always over the tight horizon, invisible except in its effects. It was what happened when you weren't looking -- an unknowable infinity of events, which although out of control, controlled everything.”