A globalized world is by now a familiar fact of life. Building walls or moats may sound appealing, but the future belongs to those who tend to their people and then boldly engage the rest of the world, near and far.

In the closed circle of the war cabinet, pounded by terrible report after terrible report, there had been uncertainty about whether he could fend off the drift to exploring a deal with Hitler. The determination of the larger group trumped the tentativeness of the smaller, and Churchill fulfilled his role as leader by disentangling himself from defeatism--one of his singular achievements at the end of May 1940.

Sometimes paranoids have enemies, and conspiracies are only laughable when they fail to materialize.

As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom - not least freedom of conscience.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Jefferson was the rare leader who stood out from the crowd without intimidating it.

We often talk too much & listen too little. The surer route to winning a friend isn't to convince them that you're right, but that you care what they think.