University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.

Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.

It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise.

The Vietnam War required us to emphasize the national interest rather than abstract principles. What President Nixon and I tried to do was unnatural. And that is why we didn't make it.

Diplomacy: the art of restraining power.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

It is, after all, the responsibility of the expert to operate the familiar and that of the leader to transcend it.

The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.

A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone.

She took a step and didn't want to take any more, but she did.

I came up stairs into the world, for I was born in a cellar.

It's frightening, the way life speeds up. When you're at school, time can't go fast enough.

I would pray that I'd leave a legacy of faith, trust and joy. For the joy of the Lord has been my strength and song, and I praise Him.

I used to read only fiction. Now I don't read much, only occasionally, such as a Cormac McCarthy or a Jim Harrison novel.

Experience has taught me that the only cruelties people condemn are those with which they do not happen to be familiar.

Learn when to fear, and how to fear, and how much to fear, before you squander all you have left.

Those who have much are often greedy. Those who have little always share.

I'm not sure at all that literature should be studied on the university level. ... Why should people study books? Isn't it rather silly to study Pride and Prejudice. Either you get it or you don't.

Something good always happens at 4:20 for me.