Legislators who are of even average intelligence stand out among their colleagues. . . . A cultured college president has become as much a rarity as a literate newspaper publisher. A financier interested in economics is as exceptional as a labor leader interested in the labor movement. For the most part our leaders are merely following out in front; they [only] marshal us in the way that we are going.

Stoicism is the wisdom of madness and cynicism the madness of wisdom.

Wisdom is meaningless until your own experience has given it meaning, and there is wisdom in the selection of wisdom.

Authors are magpies, echoing each other's words and seizing avidly on anything that glitters.

There is no necessary connection between the desire to lead and the ability to lead, and even less the ability to lead somewhere that will be to the advantage of the led.

Words are one of our chief means of adjusting to all the situations of life. The better control we have over words, the more successful our adjustment is likely to be.

We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.