To say that there is a case for heroes is not to say that there is a case for hero worship. The surrender of decision, the unquestioning submission to leadership, the prostration of the average man before the Great Man -- these are the diseases of heroism, and they are fatal to human dignity. History amply shows that it is possible to have heroes without turning them into gods. And history shows, too, that when a society, in flight from hero worship, decides to do without great men at all, it gets into troubles of its own.

The first rule of democracy is to distrust all leaders who begin to believe their own publicity.

What higher obligation does a President have than to explain his intentions to the people and persuade them that the direction he wishes to go is right?

Those who are convinced they have a monopoly on The Truth always feel that they are only saving the world when they slaughter the heretics.

I trust that a graduate student some day will write a doctoral essay on the influence of the Munich analogy on the subsequent history of the twentieth century. Perhaps in the end he will conclude that the multitude of errors committed in the name of Munich may exceed the original error of 1938.

Politics in a democracy is, at the end, an educational process.

History is full of surprises.