Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced

Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts. The fact of being on the record makes it appear continuous and ubiquitous whereas it is more likely to have been sporadic both in time and place.

Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts.

Arguments can always be found to turn desire into policy.

The conduct of war was so much more interesting than its prevention.

For me, the card catalog has been a companion all my working life. To leave it is like leaving the house one was brought up in.

Nothing sickens me more than the closed door of a library.