We are suffering from a kind of slow-motion barbarization from within.

Leadership is, among other things, the ability to inflict pain and get away with it - short-term pain for long-term gain.

Stalin's henchman Molotov, 96, died old and in bed, a privilege he helped to deny to millions.

If you want to understand your government, don't begin by reading the Constitution. (It conveys precious little of the flavor of today's statecraft.) Instead, read selected portions of the Washington telephone directory containing listings for all the organizations with titles beginning with the word National.

Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues.

The gap between ideals and actualities, between dreams and achievements, the gap that can spur strong men to increased exertions, but can break the spirit of others -- this gap is the most conspicuous, continuous land mark in American history. It is conspicuous and continuous not because Americans achieve little, but because they dream grandly. The gap is a standing reproach to Americans; but it marks them off as a special and singularly admirable community among the world's peoples.

[O]rganized violence punctuated by committee meetings.