My basic philosophy is that no human being is a saint.

- David Maraniss

It's hard to know exactly how people develop the characters they do. There could be people from humble beginnings that turn into jerks. Some characte…

- David Maraniss

My favorites are Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, but those are a little off in terms of getting Detroit right on the head. But of course, you know, "D…

- David Maraniss

I said that I'm only there to write the truth, I'm not going to cover anything up, but I'll put everything in context and get as close to the truth o…

- David Maraniss

Well, there were several things. One was that the industry itself built in Detroit was abandoning the city - taking factories elsewhere, the corporat…

- David Maraniss

It is?classic Bill Clinton, sincere and deceptive at the same time, requiring a careful reading between the lines.

- David Maraniss

Originally, John Kennedy was going to come speak, and then Lyndon Johnson. Because it was October of '62, neither made it because of the Cuban missil…

- David Maraniss

It seemed that I could tell the whole story pretty powerfully in those 18 months between October of '62 and the spring of '64 when they were all at t…

- David Maraniss

I discovered in writing the biography of Bill Clinton that it is actually easier to write a biography of someone who is dead. Although you can't inte…

- David Maraniss