“The history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.”

“A lie told well is just as good as the truth.”

“Human unhappiness is evidence of our immortality.”

“In the end, Leck should have stuck to his lies. For it was the truth he almost told that killed him.”

“The hard surface of the stone is impervious to nothing in the end. The heat of the sun leaves evidence of daylight. Each drop of rain changes the form; even the wind and the air itself, invisible to our eyes, etches its presence. … All history is taken in by stones.”

“History is about winners, not about losers. History is about assessing distortions, not copying out truths. History has much to say about the way the powerful handle power, for power engenders records. History is about evidence, and evidence flagrantly distorts. There is a bias between winners and losers. History is hopeless on love, but excellent on hatred. Such a state of things may not please all, but then history was never meant to please. One-sidedness lies at the heart of historical knowledge.”