"The history of human events is, for better or worse, the history of men and women acting according to a conception of what they think is good, right, just, and true."

"A culture with its unique manners and mores reflects the moral character of individuals writ large, and historians should be able to discern patterns of moral belief and action that may reveal the existence of a common moral order. Hence the history of human events is, for better or worse, the history of men and women acting according to a conception of what they think is good, right, just, and true."

~ C. Bradley Thompson, from his new book America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It.