Convictions no doubt have to be modified or expanded to meet changing conditions but ... to be a reliable political leader sooner or later your anchors must hold fast where other men's drag.

the announcement that you are going to tell a good story (and the chuckle that precedes it) is always a dangerous opening.

She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake.

Too much brilliance has its disadvantages, and misplaced wit may raise a laugh, but often beheads a topic of profound interest.

I have been devoured all my life by an incurable and burning impatience: and to this day find all oratory, biography, operas, films, plays, books, and persons, too long.

Rumor is untraceable, incalculable, and infectious.

The capacity to suffer varies more than anything that I have observed in human nature.