We do ourselves a disservice when we self-servingly massage the record. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
To give credit to Lincoln for moral progression seems beyond the facts and unnecessary for our appreciation of this arguably greatest of all American… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
I'm not a Lincoln expert, rather a biographer who has had the pleasure of reading much of what has been written about him from… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
Myth and mythology often serve constructive and aspirational purposes. But they also do harm. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
I first wrote a biography of Thomas Carlyle, and it turned out I loved writing biographies and had a talent for it. I believed… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
“The New START accord cuts the strategic nuclear arsenals on each side to 1,550 warheads. Can any of its critics make a case that… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
Is there really any relationship between artists' personal conduct and their art? Certainly not. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
Gore Vidal was a man of immense literary talent, some of which he used well, some of which he wasted. — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
“He had entered another imaginative world, one connected to the beginning of his life as a writer, to the Napoleonic world that had been… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
Obama is a very fine writer with an excellent command of language. His memoir 'Dreams From My Father' is a fine book, but it… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
“As became a young sinner, Sam [Mark Twain] had a special interest in Satan. He asked his Sunday school teacher questions about Eve in… — Fred Kaplan Copy Share Image
![“He had entered another imaginative world, one connected to the beginning of his life as a writer, to the Napoleonic world that had been a lifelong metaphor for the power of art, for the empire of his own creation He began to dictate notes for a new novel, "fragments of the book he imagines himself to be writing." As if he were now writing a novel of which his own altered consciousness was the dramatic center, he dictated a vision of himself as Napoleon and his own family as the Imperial Bonapartes....William and Alice he grasped with his regent hand, addressing his 'dear and most esteemed brother and sister.' To them, to whom he had granted countries, he now gave the responsibility of supervising the detailed plans he had created for 'the decoration of certain apartments, here of the Louvre and Tuileries, which you will find addressed in detail to artists and workment who take them in hand.' He was himself the 'imperial eagle.' Taking down the dictation, Theodora [his secretary] felt it to be almost more than she could bear. 'It is a heart-breaking thing to do, though, there is the extraordinary fact that his mind does retain the power to frame perfectly characteristic sentences.” quote by Fred Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6c4/fred-kaplan-18752_art_he-had-entered-another-imaginative-world_1042211.jpg)
![“As became a young sinner, Sam [Mark Twain] had a special interest in Satan. He asked his Sunday school teacher questions about Eve in the garden, wondering "if he had ever heard of another woman who, being approached by a serpent, would not excuse herself and break for the nearest timber." Twain recalled, "He did not answer my question, but rebuked me for inquiring into matters above my age and comprehension.” quote by Fred Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b7d/fred-kaplan-18752_another-woman_as-became-a-young-sinner-sam-mark-twain_1175800.jpg)