Every policy is shaped by two forces: background analysis and foreground politics. The political forces are loud, self-serving and, in the case of energy policy, well known.


Donella Meadows

  Email Quote to Friends   Link to Quote   Create Short URL  Publish Text About This Quote   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Quotes For You

Related

I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ...
KELLY JONES
I am a part of the political process whether the multinational forces are present or not. Politics i...
MUQTADA AL SADR
We are continually shaped by the forces of coincidence.
PAUL AUSTER
Brazil is caught in a combination of its own policy mistakes and powerful market forces.
MARC CHANDLER
There may be disagreements on policy, but no one can disagree with the fact that we have extraordina...
TOM VILSACK
Reality is shaped by the forces that destroy it.
D. HARLAN WILSON
The two leaders compared notes on Iraq's upcoming elections and progress in the training of Iraqi se...
FRED JONES
At this point, I believe inflation and inflation expectations will be largely contained by competiti...
JACK GUYNN
Now and always, hard-line policy and those who embrace it are vessels for darker forces that are at ...
QUEEN RANIA OF JORDAN
In a normal nation, civil security is maintained by civil forces, and here the Iraqi police and mili...
LT. COLFRED WELLMAN
In the last 680 million years of the four and a half billion that this planet has existed, life has ...
STEVE WYNN
Honesty is the best policy.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
The pro-American policy is the one that forces oil prices down. The way to do this is to flood the w...
ROBERT ZUBRIN
The Green Berets of U.S. Special Forces 5th Group - known as 'the Legion' - who led the anti...
PETER BERGEN
There are forces in the world whose soul is against the unity of the Slav peoples. Those forces, usi...
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO
Public policy is designed by spin doctors who aim to keep our heads below the water. The public good...
MARILYN FERGUSON
The problem is that once we focus on economic policy, much that is not science comes into play. Poli...
ROBERT J. SHILLER
Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it.
MARK TWAIN
Of course you are American,' he said, and waived his hand, like waving away the sentiment. 'What oth...
TONY D'SOUZA
Modern Man is the victim of the very instruments he values most. Every gain in power, every mastery ...
LEWIS MUMFORD
I would certainly say that my life, and perhaps human life in general, follows an intricate pattern ...
MARGO JEFFERSON
When individuals and communities do not govern self, they risk being ruled by external forces that c...
T.F. HODGE
It would be our policy to use nuclear weapons wherever we felt it necessary to protect our forces an...
ROBERT S. MCNAMARA
I think for those spending two weeks in Greece every year, it is simply a case of clarifying levels ...
MALCOLM TARLING
We are indebted to the men and women serving in our armed forces for their dedicated and unselfish s...
CARL LEVIN
War challenges virtually every other institution of society--the justice and equity of its economy, ...
WALTER MILLIS
War challenges virtually every other institution of society-the justice and equity of its economy, t...
WALTER MILLIS
Amnesty is a terrible policy, and it's terrible politics. It's a terrible policy because you...
TOM TANCREDO
Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows, and necessity is the resultant of physical ...
JOSE RIZAL
John Kerry is either willing to endanger American forces on the ground or he really believes that ig...
TRACEY SCHMITT
Keeping a relatively small, predominantly U.S. Special Forces presence in Afghanistan to continue to...
PETER L. BERGEN
A lot of policy makers have no idea what a very small percentage of what they think is affordable ho...
GAYLE ALBEE
Do not forget that the armed forces are the servants of the people. You do not make national policy;...
MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH
The anchors of the Arab consensus have long been Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and both are now weakened f...
ELLIOTT ABRAMS
self-serving and political thing.
SONNY PERDUE
Now in business we do a cost benefit analysis before we make policy changes. Washington should as we...
VICKY HARTZLER
Forget the consultants, the pundits and the pollsters; good policy is good politics.
JIM DEMINT
The forces that previously caused deflation in Japan are well and truly over.
STEFAN WORRALL
The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; th...
ERICH FROMM
There were two forces against each other, those of the apartheid forces and then those of the libera...
VUSI PIKOLI
It's a policy job, ... I'm not sure we have a policy problem. We have a discipline problem and it's ...
WILLIAM STEPHENS
The climax is the place where the opposing forces in your story finally clash. This is true whether ...
NANCY KRESS
The artificial separation of politics and culture is nowhere more pronounced than in the discourse o...
ELLEN WILLIS
Rockefeller College is one of the premier places in the country to study politics, governance, polic...
FRANK THOMPSON
Current public diplomacy and foreign policy making reduces the role of American citizens to mere spe...
NANCY SNOW
This feature is a ticket into the policy arena, exposing the public to the ideas that initiate and g...
HAL STRAUS
Death is a given in wartime. But this isn't about death in the heat of battle; this is about how we ...
DEBORAH PEARLSTEIN
We are seeing the desperation of the traditional political class. I wish to call for political unity...
OLLANTA HUMALA
Words and magic are two powerful forces that can change the world.
AMY NEFTZGER
Canadian forces killed one of the attackers. The number of attackers is not known.
JOHN MORRIS
Two forces which are the worst enemies of civil freedom are the absolute monarchy and the revolution
JOHN EMERICH EDWARD DALBERG ACTON
Advertisers are usually strictly non-partisan and believe in the big tent policy, if not in politics...
JOHN RASH
Science and religion are the two most powerful forces in the world. Having them at odds... is not pr...
E. O. WILSON
Under the rule of the free market ideology, we have gone through two decades of an energy crisis wit...
WENDELL BERRY
It is possible for political forces to agree.
FELIPE VI OF SPAIN
When you are down to nothing, God and the universe are always up to something!!! Be strong in your f...
ANGIE KARAN
There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will alw...
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
I was interested by the answers to the one-word descriptions. It's a classic case of a well-known in...
LARRY HUGICK
Our current energy policy is bankrupt.
JIM COSTA
The anti-choice forces are political extremists and religious fundamentalists, who are looking to ma...
CHERYL SABEL
Modern politics is, at bottom, a struggle not of men but of forces. The men become every year more a...
HENRY ADAMS
You do the policy, I'll do the politics.
DAN QUAYLE
Like a ball bated back and forth, a human being is batted by two forces within.
YOGABINDU UPANISHAD
The political process has made immense progress, Iraqi security forces are making a powerful differe...
JAMES JEFFREY
whoever they pick has a considerable degree of background and expertise on monetary policy.
LYLE GRAMLEY
He's the president's alter ego on political and domestic policy,
CHARLES BLACK
Intent without dedicated action is simply not enough. Action without a clear intent is a waste. It i...
STEVE MARABOLI
Our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back...
PETER ARNETT
Man is not suffering by external forces as much as his own dysfunctional mind and self inflicted neg...
ADITYA AJMERA
Policy consists in serving God in such a manner as not to offend the devil
THOMAS FULLER
We, and you, cannot afford to cede Iraq to the evil forces of terrorism and religious fanaticism. In...
JALAL TALABANI
We are still reviewing deals on a case-by-case basis, but our ability to insure a policy will likely...
BRIAN MOORE
As a child, I'd always liked cowboys and Indians stories where there were two layers - gruesome ...
ANTHONY BROWNE
There are only two forces that unite men -- fear and interest.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
There are only two forces that unite men - fear and interest
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
These bills are purely political and do nothing to address health care policy.
AMY HILL
There is not much difference between the first rush policy and the devils push policy. However there...
APURVA GAGLANI
Politics and the fate of mankind are shaped by men without ideals and without greatness. Men who hav...
ALBERT CAMUS
We need to integrate our energy policy with our foreign policy. The danger of security of supplies f...
LUC WERRING
Our products overcome two essential forces in the world: gravity and weather.
DAVID GEORGE
The modern artist... is working and expressing an inner world - in other words - expressing the ener...
JACKSON POLLOCK
The modern artist…is working and expressing an inner world – in other words – expressing the ener...
JACKSON POLLOCK
The modern artist…is working and expressing an inner world – in other words – expressing the e...
JACKSON POLLOCK
Ideas are, in truth, forces. Infinite, too, is the power of personality. A union of the two always...
HENRY JAMES, JR.
This is not about politics _ it's about good public policy and constitutional law.
DAVE MENZER
I extend my deepest gratitude to our Armed Forces and first responders serving both at home and abro...
JOHN DOOLITTLE
Spiritual warfare is very real. There is a furious, fierce, and ferocious battle raging in the realm...
PEDRO OKORO
Foreign policy can mean several things, not only foreign policy in the narrow sense. It can cover fo...
ROMANO PRODI
The energy in the room forces you into working harder than you thought.
JANET ROEMING
The American landscape has no foreground and the American mind no background.
EDITH WHARTON
It is the lot of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to share his ...
MUHAMMAD IQBAL
I am outraged by the policy of our leaders, by the fact that they are doing nothing to fight fascist...
YURY VDOVIN
Washington is paralyzed by extreme political rhetoric that creates powerful sound bites but poor pol...
JOHN DELANEY
There are camps in some areas that are very close to the security forces and the security forces kno...
HAGRUP HAUKLAND
Good policy makes good politics and what I've done has been good politics.
J. C. WATTS
Since all power from the seventh century on was only legitimated by religion, political forces and e...
FATEMA MERNISSI
We were in the middle of a three car caravan accompanied by Jim Carlisle, a career diplomat and the ...
NICK HAHN
The power of habit and the charm of novelty are the two adverse forces which explain the follies of ...
MARIA DE BEAUSACQ
If it succeeds, the political process, I predict you'll see a drawdown of American forces by this ti...
JOE BIDEN

More Donella Meadows

Scientists worldwide agree that the reduction needed to stabilize the climate is actually more like ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Biodiversity can't be maintained by protecting a few species in a zoo, or by preserving greenbel...
DONELLA MEADOWS
What I hear every day on talk radio is America's lack of education - and I don't mean lack o...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The grand jury's job is not to weigh the evidence from both sides; it is only to decide whether ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany have detailed plans to cut their greenhouse emissions by 20 to ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Calculating how much carbon is absorbed by which forests and farms is a tricky task, especially when...
DONELLA MEADOWS
A grand jury hears only one side - that of the prosecutor.
DONELLA MEADOWS
It's a fair guess that at the rate we're destroying habitat, especially but not exclusively ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
We know it is impossible to go on finding, moving and wasting oil, leveling forests, paving land, du...
DONELLA MEADOWS
We have witnessed Chernobyl, Bhopal, Challenger, Seveso, Amoco Cadiz, Three Mile Island and have sti...
DONELLA MEADOWS
We wouldn't have to speak so critically if businesses would stop feeding dead animals to live on...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Everyone except the far right wing of the Republican Party realizes that oil, gas and coal burning a...
DONELLA MEADOWS
A knowledgeable and courageous U.S. president could help enormously in leading the world's natio...
DONELLA MEADOWS
I'm a talk-show junkie. I'd rather listen to real folks stumbling to express their own thoug...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Both the United States and the world economy have already reached - and surpassed - their sustainabl...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Glaciers are almost gone from Glacier National Park.
DONELLA MEADOWS
There is hardly a place on Earth where people do not log, pave, spray, drain, flood, graze, fish, pl...
DONELLA MEADOWS
You may be able to fool the voters, but not the atmosphere.
DONELLA MEADOWS
Your paradigm is so intrinsic to your mental process that you are hardly aware of its existence, unt...
DONELLA MEADOWS
World fertility surveys indicate that anywhere from one third to one half of the babies born in the ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Ending poverty calls for humility, honesty, freedom from ideology and refusal to accept cruel simpli...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Smart development builds on a region's own skills, resources and local businesses. Dumb growth i...
DONELLA MEADOWS
I know that war and mayhem run in our blood. I refuse to believe that they must dominate our lives. ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The actions of my government are not bearable. They devastate our natural resources and deprive our ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
At town meetings, you can see the shy folks, the ones who have trouble sounding off in public, leani...
DONELLA MEADOWS
We have come to expect campaigns to be mean and stupid and politicians to be unresponsive, self-seek...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The climate continues to deteriorate.
DONELLA MEADOWS
We don't need bigger cars or fancier clothes. We need self-respect, identity, community, love, v...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The kind of support the down-and-out need is the kind we have always refused them, the kind that wou...
DONELLA MEADOWS
In 1994 the U.S. Court of Appeals decided in the case of Oliver North to permit the release of grand...
DONELLA MEADOWS
I spent my time trying to understand grand jury procedure - a topic about which I never before had t...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Social services, not wealth per se, seem to be the key to lower birth rates. The Chinese, although a...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The European nations take climate change very seriously.
DONELLA MEADOWS
What Clinton did with Lewinsky was despicable but was no threat to the nation. That he lied about it...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Like the other great revolutions, an environmental revolution will require sacrifices and lead to en...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The first one was much nicer. It was spontaneous and unorganized. It went beyond what anyone in char...
DONELLA MEADOWS
If the world were a village of 100 people, ... there would be 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Relative to most of the energy and material flows on Earth, the machinations of humankind are puny. ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
The human world is a long way from meeting the needs of the present, and it is borrowing massively f...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Before they got vengeful, conservatives had some useful points to make about welfare. Government ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
No one wants growth, constant expansion, physical swelling. Growth is not a human value; it's a ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Recession-resistant development produces things people need. Unsustainable growth churns out tinsel ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
Some call-in moderators are neutral and courteous. Then there's Rush Limbaugh, who is funny and ...
DONELLA MEADOWS
We can't impose our will on a system. We can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how it...
DONELLA H. MEADOWS
Before I had a chance to feel too sorry for myself, I turned toward the front of the cabin and found...
JODI MEADOWS
My mother was the dearest, sweetest angel. She didn't talk; she sang. She was a tower of strengt...
JAYNE MEADOWS
If Terri was upset about how silly she would look, her mother was completely undone. Seems she wante...
AUDREY MEADOWS
I asked Frank what he remembered most about working with Jackie. He said, 'Apart from the fact that ...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Frank Marth also played many characters with us, and like George Petrie,he was worth his weight in g...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Fans always ask, 'What did the bedroom look like?' All they ever saw was Alice or Ralph going in and...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Fan mail is one thing, but fans you meet in person are a different matter entirely.
AUDREY MEADOWS
Everyone in show business has had the experience of the fan who is so excited at recognizing their f...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Censors are energetic and righteous people but they just couldn't work a room like Abbe Lane.
AUDREY MEADOWS
Cary Grant, said, 'I heard you were on the lot and I just had to meet you.'
AUDREY MEADOWS
But then there is the one who seems to have a hard time separating the actor's work from reality.
AUDREY MEADOWS
A bedroom requires a bed. Everything else was extravagance. Well, he had a bed all right.
AUDREY MEADOWS
True, life is complex. But so are a great many accidents.
FOZ MEADOWS
It's almost pointless to even write a check for that.
BRIAN MEADOWS
I don't think a lot of people know that. When I tell my friends they can't believe it. My taxes are ...
BRIAN MEADOWS
I had one real bad outing and that was pretty much it. I've done this job for years and seem to have...
BRIAN MEADOWS
I was proud of it, I just hope it wasn't too late.
BRIAN MEADOWS
Those who are presenting opening the Arctic as a solution to the world's energy problems are misrepr...
BILL MEADOWS
The senator from Alaska announced that he will also take advantage of the suffering people of the Gu...
BILL MEADOWS
I'm taking a shot, baby. This is the biggest game in the history of college football.
BILL MEADOWS
This is probably the most threatened the Arctic refuge has been since 1960, when it was established ...
BILL MEADOWS
It will take an act of Congress to open the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain for drilling. Many Republ...
BILL MEADOWS
I've always voted Republican because America is exactly that, a republic. You can't expect m...
AUDREY MEADOWS
My father was an Episcopal minister, and for 14 years my family lived in China, in a city called Wuc...
AUDREY MEADOWS
We make ramp cornbread, ramp salad, if they come out with ramp ice cream I'd be willing to try it.
JIM MEADOWS
We danced forever, and not nearly long enough. Now that I faced him, I could touch him, too, rather ...
JODI MEADOWS
You get a lot of Johnnie Cochran roles. Those kind of things fall to you naturally because of the co...
TIM MEADOWS
I love Tim Burton; I really just love the guy.
LUKE MEADOWS
Later, I made a movie with him, 'That Touch of Mink,' and we became good friends but any wom...
AUDREY MEADOWS
You just go right up to anything and talk to it, don’t you?" Sam closed his eyes and smiled. “I ...
JODI MEADOWS
Shrikes were songbirds; he ought to know.
JODI MEADOWS
Steve is very quiet, even shy. I am very gregarious. So, opposites.
JAYNE MEADOWS
He was talking about how those businesses should be able to move wherever they damn well please, and...
DAVID MEADOWS
One of the first things I remember was going ramp digging with my dad and uncle.
JIM MEADOWS
It's not too late to save the Arctic Refuge from devastating oil drilling. We have to make our voice...
BILL MEADOWS
I'm sure there are some legal boundaries between the two states. The way it stands right now, we go ...
BILL MEADOWS
I need to find a woman named Monday... Because Mondays always suck
JARED MEADOWS
Usually cook them with fix potatoes, bacon, sausage, and cornbread and brown beans.
JIM MEADOWS
Never having experienced inequality, therefore, the majority of straight white men will be absolutel...
FOZ MEADOWS
How can so many (white, male) writers narratively justify restricting the agency of their female cha...
FOZ MEADOWS
It was January before she was really starting to feel comfortable with what we were doing. She liter...
DAVID MEADOWS
I like doing films and I wish that I could do more but I still have to audition. I don't get off...
TIM MEADOWS
One of her teachers said she was one of the brightest students she'd had in 20 years. She was so str...
DAVID MEADOWS
She spoke what I call survival English. She spoke it well enough that she could communicate all she ...
DAVID MEADOWS
Principals are getting good feedback from across the community.
DAVID MEADOWS
The message is that the D.C. City Council is not trying to judge our community. It's not trying to m...
DAVID MEADOWS
Context is everything in both narrative and real life, and while the accusation is never that these ...
FOZ MEADOWS
As a fantasist, I well understand the power of escapism, particularly as relates to romance. But whe...
FOZ MEADOWS
Jackie had a keen eye for talent, and like an elephant never forgot. And, he was always right on the...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Robert Taylor was not only a splendid actor in a wide variety of roles but one of the most handsome ...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Frank Marth also played many characters with us, and like George Petrie, he was worth his weight in ...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Fans always ask, 'What did the bedroom look like?' All they ever saw was Alice or Ralph goin...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Everyone in show business has had the experience of the fan who is so excited at recognizing their f...
AUDREY MEADOWS
Censors are energetic and righteous people but they just couldn't work a room like Abbe Lane.
AUDREY MEADOWS
Jackie considered his resurrection, the world's best return performance.
AUDREY MEADOWS
I don't like being around smoke and i don't want her around smoke, so if I take her to a restaurant ...
JASON MEADOWS
If they can't serve people under 19, it makes it hard to serve them to go to eat with friends and it...
JASON MEADOWS
It's hard to get used to, ... I'm used to working 70 or 80 hours a week. Now I'm home resting. I fee...
JASON MEADOWS
Something that’s bothered me for a while now is the current profligacy in YA culture of Team Boy 1...
FOZ MEADOWS
Breathing in the scent of his hair, I realized I'd needed him my whole life, before we even met. Fir...
JODI MEADOWS
I was an afterthought, five thousand years later. A mistake, because Ciana was gone. I was the disso...
JODI MEADOWS
I've never had a home before." That must have been all the sweets talking; I'd never have told him o...
JODI MEADOWS
His ascent was slow - the blow to the head must have disoriented him worse than he let on - so I wen...
JODI MEADOWS
There was no telling if I’d be reborn when I died, but the waltz began and ended with my four note...
JODI MEADOWS
I'm surprised no one's come to greet you," Sam murmured.
"Gawk. Not greet.
JODI MEADOWS
Who am I?" My first spoken words.
"No one," she said. "Nosoul.
JODI MEADOWS
You don't listen do you? Go away." ..."You don't listen," he said.
Why wouldn't he just ...
JODI MEADOWS
Not insane, just stupid.
JODI MEADOWS
It wasn’t an easy, sweet kiss like I’d imagined my first would be, but frustrated and hungry. Th...
JODI MEADOWS
Thanks to Sam, I was immortal.
JODI MEADOWS
my butterfly dress was visible on the washroom floor, bent and shredded wings and all. Cheeks hot, I...
JODI MEADOWS
My heart wasn't big enough to hold everything I felt, but I couldn't bear the thought of asking him ...
JODI MEADOWS
you're thinking too hard about how to respond to my stupidity. Have to be polite don't you?
JODI MEADOWS
I don't want to lose you," he whispered again. "And I didn't want to be lost.
JODI MEADOWS
He nodded, brushed hair off my face, and headed from the kitchen.
"I hate being a teenager." JODI MEADOWS
I'd give anything to make things right for you." He caressed my cheek, my hair, my back. Everywhere ...
JODI MEADOWS
I only meant the impulsive part."
"I'm a passionate person, that's all."
His mouth turned ...
JODI MEADOWS
Ana is convinced she can bake anything."
"I can. I'm going to make tarts and you're going to li...
JODI MEADOWS
Ana, you make me ache in places that aren't even physical.
JODI MEADOWS
He held on to me like I was a rock, the only thing keeping him from drifting out with the tide of da...
JODI MEADOWS
It's difficult to focus on my studies when my best friend is struggling to get through the hour." JODI MEADOWS I regret I didn't wear a jacket, or I'd give it to you."
"I still have my wings. It wouldn't fi...
JODI MEADOWS
I think I died to be reborn with you
JODI MEADOWS
Simple things are often the most challenging.
JODI MEADOWS
Music overwhelmed me, soaked into my skin like water. I didn’t have words for the squiggles and da...
JODI MEADOWS
I'm not going to waste time being angry about things I can't control. If I only have one life, I sho...
JODI MEADOWS
Did you have friend?"
"I've read about them, but I don't believe they exist."
"Your cynici...
JODI MEADOWS
There's always the option of deciding for yourself who you are and what you'll become.
JODI MEADOWS
We had a real battle and eventually got Cisco to change its default factory settings. The access poi...
LORIS MEADOWS
In my experience with women that I've dated and my wife now, is you have to know what they care abou...
TIM MEADOWS