Trying to be fascinating is an asinine position to be in.

An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s.

The Army will take its lessons learned. They’re excellent at looking into themselves and reflecting on what did we do right, what did we do wrong.

Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them.

I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.

The U.S. increasingly has taken on the characteristics of what we describe as ‚failed states.‘

That the divided but contiguous particles of bodies may be separated from one another is a matter of observation; and, in the particles that remain undivided, our minds are able to distinguish yet lesser parts, as is mathematically demonstrated.

The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking.

Ultimately, a real understanding of history means that we face nothing new under the sun.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

It is easy enough to define what the Commonwealth is not. Indeed this is quite a popular pastime.

The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and the means can never be considered in isolation from their purposes.

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety.

If anyone offers conjectures about the truth of things from the mere possibility of hypotheses, I do not see by what stipulation anything certain can be determined in any science, since one or another set of hypotheses may always be devised which will appear to supply new difficulties.

Romcoms are hard in a lot of ways: they’re built to be buoyant. It’s easy to demean them.

Well, when you come down to it, I don’t see that a reporter could do much to a president, do you?

Industry need not wish.

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent.

Characters do not change. Opinions alter, but characters are only developed.

The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.

It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive.

I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.

Sure, women sportswriters look when they’re in the clubhouse. Read their stories. How else do you explain a capital letter in the middle of a word?

When I was researching my book ‚The 33 Strategies of War‘, I studied Napoleon extensively and I found myself wanting to ask Napoleon questions about things he did, and if was I interpreting his actions correctly.

Leadership is a choice, not a position.

Political necessities sometime turn out to be political mistakes.

Fame is but the breath of people, and that often unwholesome.

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.

For all right judgment of any man or things it is useful, nay, essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

I’ve analyzed the best I can… and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not an acceptable course.

Cunning… is but the low mimic of wisdom.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

Thinking fragments reality – it cuts it up into conceptual bits and pieces.

There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers.

I read the book of Job last night, I don’t think God comes out well in it.

What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.

If you judge, investigate.

There is no gambling like politics.

Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect – in terror.

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.

A president has an inescapable responsibility to provide direction: What are we trying to achieve? What are we trying to prevent? Why? To do that, he has to both analyze and reflect.

Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open.

It’s not a coincidence that in the Scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It’s not an accident. That’s a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions.

I had a C-section, and I found it fascinating. I didn’t find it a sacrifice, and I didn’t find it a painful experience. I found it a fascinating miracle of what a body can do.

I think the materialist conception of history is valid.

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Perhaps there are none more lazy, or more truly ignorant, than your everlasting readers.

Study men, not historians.

Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age.

The more you observe politics, the more you’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other.

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.

It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.

How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!