What we saw in Richard Nixon's face was the panic in his soul. – Richard Goodwin

He understood the code of his social class enough to affect an air of indifference about life.

Manners matter as this author memorably illustrates. Eleanor Roosevelt stubbornly kept her clout behind Adlai Stevenson was an almost visceral resistance to John F. Kennedy's charms as a newcomer to power. The sudden death of Eleanor's granddaughter shortly before JFK was to meet with her suggested that rapprochement was impossible. Kennedy's genuine gentle manners toward the grieving former first lady won her over and may have shifted the balance in an extremely close election.

The scene is France. The theater is the world.

Eisenhower on LBJ: "He hadn't got the depth of mind nor the breath vision to carry great responsibility.

The author's alliterative description of politics since the 1960 presidential debates: "Government by Gotcha".