"I like the ideology of there being no such thing as perfection. I really like what that suggests. But I'm of the opinion that I have witnessed perfection at various times, especially in art."

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A high-ranking Syrian official in DC laughed when he heard I was reading Michel Aflaq and writing this book. He said, "Let me tell you something. There are no Baathists, no one believes this stuff, this is stuff you read in school because it's assigned to you. Maybe someone believed it, but no one really believes it." And I thought that was really interesting to hear, because the ideology of Baathism was presented so often to Americans as the core of what's wrong.

— Elliott Colla