You know, if you're at home with children, you lose twenty-five IQ points.

- Nathaniel Philbrick

To my mind, an adventure is something a person willingly undertakes.

- Nathaniel Philbrick

As Herman Melville wrote of that seagoing monster of a man Captain Ahab, “All mortal greatness is but disease.

- Nathaniel Philbrick

In all natural disasters through time, man needs to attach meaning to tragedy, no matter how random and inexplicable the event is.

- Nathaniel Philbrick

People think I live here on Nantucket and just gaze at the ocean, getting my inspiration. Not so. I work in my basement and gaze out onto a single wi…

- Nathaniel Philbrick

You cannot underestimate the influence of Shakespeare.

- Nathaniel Philbrick

Enthusiasm is big. When I write a book, it's a three-year commitment. Toward the end, I'm writing seven days a week, and it's exhausting but thrillin…

- Nathaniel Philbrick

I follow the Patriots, but the Steelers were my first and true love. I still have a terrible towel.

- Nathaniel Philbrick

Something like going to get the newspaper can increase your writing efficiency by taking you away from the material. When I'm doing other things, wri…

- Nathaniel Philbrick