David Gergen Quotes

We are making politics a spectator sport in which our only duty is to vote somebody into office and then retire to the grandstands.

At the heart of leadership is the leader's relationship with followers. People will entrust their hopes and dreams to another person only if they think the other is a reliable vessel.

Ronald Reagan is clearly to television what Franklin Roosevelt was to radio.

A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.

If you look at history, every major realignment in our politics is a joining together of a new generation and emerging technologies. Obama has been a pioneer in joining the powers of the Internet with the principles of community organizing. Howard Dean used the Internet for meetups - Obama used it to create a movement.

It’s easy to confuse motion with progress.

Leadership is a journey. Each one of us has to take our own path, and get there our own way.

Morality in government begins with officials using words as honestly as possible to describe the truth.

We know from past history that when young people vote for one party a couple of times, they tend to vote for that party during their adult lifetimes in disproportionate numbers.

The proudest moment for [a teacher of leaders] is seeing not what students learn but what they do.

There is a cannibalism that's loose in our society in which public figures such as the Clintons could try to come into this town and do something good for this country and then they get hammered away even though they're trying to do the right thing.

It's very, very hard to speak truth to power when the truth is unpleasant. I think it's one of the toughest things especially a young person has to do and the only way you can do it is if you're willing to walk out the door if he doesn't take your advice. Or if you're willing to walk out the door if he goes over the line.

One cannot underestimate how widely admired Tom Daschle is in Washington for his integrity.

I think it's particularly raw coming the day after the Electoral College, and Bill Clinton, he's taking this hard. It's been very hard to him. He thought his wife was gonna win. He believed she should have won. I think he believes, basically, it was an unfair result.

Leadership is about calling people to do things beyond themselves.