The Founding Fathers would be sorry to see that America had become so divided and factionalized.

As parties began to develop around the turn of the 19th century, you had party nominees for President nominated in caucuses made up of party members in Congress.

To people who remember JFK's assassination, JFK Jr. will probably always be that boy saluting his father's coffin.

Legacy is what a president does that affects later generations.

First of all, there's no mention of political parties in the Constitution, so you begin American history with not only no political conventions but also no parties.

Then you get to the last half of the 20th century, Americans are getting very skeptical about their leaders and their institutions, and another place that is affected is parties and conventions.

I'm defining [presidential courage] pretty narrowly. It's not only taking a big political risk but it's also the risk that in the hindsight of history, people think it's wise.

Under the system that we now have to nominate presidential candidates, for instance, I would prefer that we have a system that is closer to, say, the one we had in the 1960s.

Roosevelt understands that there are things that are worth surrendering your career for, like defending the country against [Adolf] Hitler.

We [the United States] are the world's only superpower right now, so everyone notices every bit of what we do or don't do.

You don't say that for a senator to be a great senator he has to vote against his constituency.

When you go into labor you see that you are not the captain of the ship. You are the ship. There is no captain. There are only the waves.

Get someone-anyone-to read books to you. Having books read to you at any age is the supremo ultimato of living.

No mortal ear could have heard the kelpie passing through the night, for the great black hooves of it were as soundless in their stride as feathers falling.

I hate being alone, even for 10 minutes.

You need to feel that the game is important to you. Lose that feeling and you lose your edge. There's no faking that kind of emotion. You can't invent the feeling. It's got to be natural, real.

By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character. Grenville Kleiser Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

No joy can equal the joy of serving others.

Basbanes makes you love books.

This is white man's integration, an integration based on exploitative values

I was looking for excellence in any color or gender it comes in. Some of my top people are African American but not all of them.