From off the table beside his bed, I picked up Tristram Shandy and read for an hour. We were both amused. The book is better read aloud than to oneself. "I am partial to Sterne," said the Colonel, "and regret that I came to him so late in life. In fact, when I was young, if I had read more of Sterne and less of Voltaire I might have realized that there was room enough on this earth for both Hamilton and me."

--Gore Vidal, Burr