"Ted Kennedy is the only person alive who might know more than we do about Chappaquiddick, and he may not."

"There's a Washington standard of casually putting things off the record. It's really gone too far. I don't know an easy way to turn it back."

"When I came back to Washington to be The Times' chief congressional correspondent in 1991, I was looking for a book subject, and Ted Kennedy stood out for two reasons."

"Democratic politicians have disliked things I've written, Republican politicians... if they all love you, you might as well be driving a Good Humor truck."

"I thought writing about somebody current would be a little closer to what I'm used to doing."

"Another thing that's quite different in writing a book as a practicing newspaperman is that if you look at what you've written the next morning and you think you didn't get it quite right, you can fix it."