Action should be founded on contemplation, and those of us who act don't put enough time, don't give enough emphasis, to contemplation.

All the evidence of history suggests that man is indeed a rational animal, but with a near infinite capacity for folly. . . . He draws blueprints for Utopia, but never quite gets it built. In the end he plugs away obstinately with the only building material really ever at hand--his own part comic, part tragic, part cussed, but part glorious nature.

Belief and seeing are both often wrong.

In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil

At my age, 85, I'm at age where I can look back and derive some conclusions about my actions. My rule has been try to learn, try to understand what happened. Develop the lessons and pass them on.

The commitment of government to deal with the population issue is of course essential....There are many ways to make the death rate increase.

Poor planning or poor execution of plans is simply to let some force other than reason shape reality.