They really wanted freedom from error

Although the Puritans are often depicted as seeking freedom of conscience, that is misleading. They really wanted freedom from error - in other words liberty from false religion imposed by Charles and his advisers in order to foster true religion according to their Calvinist standards. Not only Catholics but also Anglicans were excluded from the colony: two of the first settlers, the Browne brothers, were shipped back home because they wanted to worship according to the Book of Common Prayer.

D. Reynolds, America: Empire of Liberty (2009), 34

These billions have done more to chart the universe than did Galileo Galilei, Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin

During the last 500 years modern science has achieved wonders thanks largely to the willingness of governments, businesses, foundations and private donors to channel billions of dollars into scientific research. These billions have done more to chart the universe than did Galileo Galilei, Christopher Columbus and Charles Darwin. If these particular geniuses had never been born their insights would probably have occurred to others. But if proper funding were unavailable, no intellectual brilliance could he compensated for that.

Y.N. Hariri, Sapiens (2011), 303

The only steak you could obtain in Argentina in 1492 was from a llama

One of the most interesting examples of this globalisation is 'ethnic' cuisine. In an Italian restaurant we expect to find spaghetti in tomato sauce; in Polish and Irish restaurants lots of potatoes; in an Argentinian restaurant we can choose between dozens of kinds of beefsteaks; in an Indian restaurant hot chillis are incorporated into just about everything; and the highlight at any Swiss cafe is thick ho chocolate under an alp of whipped cream. But none of those foods is native to those nations. Tomatoes, chilli peppers and cocoa are all Mexican in origin. They reached Europe and Asia only after the Spanish conquered Mexico. Julius Caesar and Dante Alighieri never twirled tomato-drenched spaghetti on their forks (even forks hadn't been invented), William Tell never tasted chocolate, and Buddha never spiced up his food with chilli. Potatoes reached Poland and Ireland no more than 400 years ago. The only steak you could obtain in Argentina in 1492 was from a llama.

Y.N. Hariri, Sapiens (2011), 188-9

History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets

Until the late modern era, more than 90 per cent of humans were peasants who rose each morning to till the land by the sweat of their brows. They extra they produced fed the tiny minority of elites - kings, government officials, soldiers, priests, artists and thinkers - who fill the history books. History is something that very few people have been doing while everyone else was ploughing fields and carrying water buckets.

Y.N. Hariri, Sapiens (2011), 114


'kings, government officials, soldiers, priests' is how I got my degree.

I was so relieved when the Cultural Revolution began. I just threw the exam results down the toilet and wrote the editorial

Like all my classmates, Future had been a Red Guard. In 1966, he formed a faction of two at his high school in Beijing and mimeographed his own newspaper. "Exams are a reactionary, bourgeois tool," he thundered in his maiden editorial. His instincts were purely pragmatic. "I had failed math and was afraid to show my marks to my father," he explained to me. "I was so relieved when the Cultural Revolution began. I just threw the exam results down the toilet and wrote the editorial."

J. Wong, Red China Blues (1996), 143