One does not hold a conversation with him. One holds a symposium. – Elizabeth Drew

College was at the heart of his sentimental imagination.

Presidents are also always storytellers, purveyors of useful national mythologies.

Politics is motion." John Sears

What does sincerity mean if it is chosen as deliberate strategy?

Governing is not a hero's profession. It is a profession of compromises.

An anti-politician is hardly an anti-politician once he starts winning and works to close the deal by working to sew up the Establishment.

He talks to people's grievances, but he doesn't seem mad. – Elizabeth Drew

Now even reformers needed political machines.

To claim the mantle of purity is always a risky business. It just gives an excuse to be disillusioned once your ordinary humidity is exposed.

Do what you are doing. Monastic motto

He supposed that even in Hell, people got an occasional sip of water, if only so they could appreciate the full horror of unrequited thirst when it set in again.

When you are writing, you must treat it as the most important thing in the world, even when you know it is not. This helps you take the job seriously and do your best on everything you write.

[Whole] generations may be swept away by the madness of kings in the space of a single hour.

For valuing your own suffering sets on it the gold of a sun of pride. Suffering a lot can originate the illusion of being the Chosen of Pain.

Our lives are composed of a finite set of moments that we choose how to spend.

I got binoculars 'cause I don't want to go that close.

You don't always need the absolute latest gear. Find your piece(s) of equipment and let time evolve your ideas with that setup.

But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, it's bloom is shed; Or, like the snow-fall in the river, A moment white, then melts forever.

Affirm continuously to yourself: I am in the right place, at the right time, for the right purpose.

For the film maker must come by his convention, as painters and writers and musicians have done before him.