John Hay on Lincoln: "He always worked with things as they were, while never relinquishing the desire to make them better.

John Hay indicates that dealing with people directly as a holder of political office "requires a stronger heart and a more obedient nervous system than I possess.

Good luck belongs to those who know how and are not afraid." John Hay to President Theodore Roosevelt

Behind those thick glasses (of TR's) was a man who did not blink.

John Hay points to our our history of getting lost in suffering when, "so close together were pain and antidote.

I like to introduce myself, because THEN I can get in all the facts." The usually self-deprecating John Hay on the ironic formality of signing his own commission as Secretary of State.

He had no desire to grandstand for his country or himself.

If he could be hard on kings and cabinets, he was invariably kind to his colleagues.

The Admiral so regrets failure, he cannot THINK of success.

In this slipshod age, we need object lessons in language and thought. – Edith Wharton on an address by John Hay

Because we have only one (life) we go about blundering along him nervous haste.

The future will never bend to the fleeting hopes of the man."From "Lucifer's Ladder: God of the Fallen, Book One

I was always optimistic. And I held to and was guided by my views.

I am so happy that I married a comedy writer. He's never not without a joke. No matter where we are.

Death comes to us, under many conditions, with all the welcome serenity of sleep.

I have been very, very consistent. But at the same time I kept kind of hitting my head on the ceiling and I couldn't break through.

The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - not our political opponents, and certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker, who would have us believe.

I could see myself in a white nurse's uniform, working unnoticed for many years and at last dying, unknown, unmarried and unsung.

Youngsters of this generation seem not quite so hazardous except in the way of mechanical speed, bad liquor and venereal diseases.

I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear.