Summers was simply a master explainer, able to deftly boil down the complexities of economic and financial, and to put them in terms the non-expert could understand. He was brilliant at cultivating a sense of control, even as events spun far beyond what could be managed with any certainty. He could will into being the confidence that eluded others, those less self-assured and, maybe sensibly, on humbler terms with the world.

There are many instances in which those at the uppermost levels of the White House were feeling the President [Barack Obama] was not fully informed of the flow of events and, in some cases, where policies were going in the White House.

It's exciting to work with the kids so devoid of irony, so unguarded. And also terrifying

Confidence is the immaterial residue of material actions. Confidence is the public face of competence.

The substance of faith is a hope in the unseen.

The informed, unmanaged question. That's the most dangerous thing at a press conference anywhere.

I absolutely reject that idea that the press is liberal and what it does is liberal. In my view, it's like accusing a doctor of malpractice or a lawyer of malfeasance.