Knute Nelson

We set the town on fire and burned down every house as a warning to other small towns along the river.

But it is neither cannon nor bayonet that will do the worst damage to this city. No, this place will remember the war against our government just as long as there are inhabitants here.

It is with this as with religion: one usually believes what he has been taught.

You have to have really wide reading habits and pay attention to the news and just everything that's going on in the world: you need to. If you get this right, then the writing is a piece of cake.

The truth is that from birth on we are, to one extent or another, a fairly sensual species.

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.