Perhaps the most striking feature of the [nonprofit] sector is its relative freedom from constraints and its resulting pluralism.

Leaders develop their styles as they interact with their constituencies. They move toward the style that seems most effective in dealing with the mixture of elements that make up their constituencies.

We cannot have islands of excellence in a sea of slovenly indifference to standards.

Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.

We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure-all your life.

The play of conflicting interests in a framework of shared purposes is the drama of a free society. It is a robust exercise, and often a noisy one. It is not for the faint-hearted, or the tidy-minded.

If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they are.