There is more respect to be won in the opinion of this world by a resolute and courageous liquidation of unsound positions than by the most stubborn pursuit of extravagant or unpromising objectives.

It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.

Heroism is endurance for one moment more.

World communism is like [a] malignant parasite which feeds on diseased tissue

The nuclear bomb is the most useless weapon ever invented. It can be employed to no rational purpose. It is not even an effective defense against itself.

Instruments of coercion, once created, have a tendency to find their own natural masters.

The United States should not jump around like an elephant frightened by a mouse.

A political society does not live to conduct foreign policy; it would be more correct to say that it conducts foreign policy in order to live.

War is a highly overrated tool of foreign policy.

The Russian leaders are keen judges of human psychology, and as such they are highly conscious that loss of temper and of self-control is never a source of strength in political affairs.

Popular revolt against a ruthless, experienced modern dictatorship, which enjoys a monopoly over weapons and communications, ... is simply not a possibility in the modern age.

Happiness is a delightful heart.

Behind every flinch is a fear or an anxiety - sometimes rational, sometimes not. Without the fear, there is no flinch. But wiping out the fear isn't what's important - facing it is.

After three straight years of writing, though, I definitely needed a break to just go live my life.

Any central bank should only be in charge of liquidity. Solvency is a matter for the treasury.

I'm probably the only bottom-heavy golfer in the country.

There is a gulf as wide as an ocean between should and want, and I am drowning in it.

Christ lived the life we could not live and took the punishment we could not take to offer the hope we cannot resist.

There's no point living if you can't, at least occasionally, live.

Separation comes from preparation.

Novels set in imaginary futures are necessarily about the moment in which they are written.