Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.

I have to decide Japanese strategy - shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts.

This is the first time in my experience... that I ever heard of a Senator trying to discredit his own Government before the world.... Your telegram is not only not true and an insolent approach to a situation that should have been worked out between man and man - but it shows conclusively that you are not even fit to have a hand in the operation of the Government of the United States.

If you can't convince them [with your logic] then just confound them [with your wit.]

I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.

Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the exercise of his abilities. Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.

When you can't do any housecleaning because everything that goes on is a damned secret, then we're on our way to something the Founding Fathers didn't have in mind. Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix.