When you have the worst disaster in American history, you've got to be attuned to expectations,

When in 1966 Charles de Gaulle ordered France out of NATO and American troops off French soil, Secretary of State Dean Rusk asked him if that included the American soldiers lying dead in the cemeteries at Normandy and throughout France

the most intellectually accomplished president of the 20th century and also the worst.

The joy of losing consists in this: Where there are no expectations, there is no disappointment.

Clashes of values and the struggle for primacy constitute a constant in human history that accounts for that other constant - conflict and war.

If we insist that public life be reserved for those whose personal history is pristine, we are not going to get paragons of virtue running our affairs. We will get the very rich, who contract out the messy things in life . . .