In April 1917 the illusion of isolation was destroyed, America came to the end of innocence, and of the exuberant freedom of bachelor independence. That the responsibilities of world power have not made us happier is no surprise. To help ourselves manage them, we have replaced the illusion of isolation with a new illusion of omnipotence.

The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention.

War is the unfolding of miscalculations.

in the midst of war and crisis nothing is as clear or as certain as it appears in hindsight

The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard

Government remains the paramount area of folly because it is there that men seek power over others - only to lose it over themselves.

Reasonable orders are easy enough to obey; it is capricious, bureaucratic or plain idiotic demands that form the habit of discipline.