It is a juvenile notion that a society needs a lofty purpose and a shining vision to achieve much. Both in the market place and on the battlefield men who set their hearts on toys have often displayed unequal initiative and drive. And one must be ignorant of the creative process to look for a close correspondence between motive and achievement in the world of thought and imagination.

You cannot gauge the intelligence of an American by talking with him; you must work with him. The American polishes and refines his way of doing things-even the most commonplace-the way the French of the 17th century polished their maxims.

To learn you need a certain degree of confidence, not too much and not too little. If you have too little confidence, you will think you can't learn. If you have too much, you will think you don't have to learn.

Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.

The most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them.

The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity.

We clamor for equality chiefly in matters in which we ourselves cannot hope to obtain excellence.