“In my opinion, any future Defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia, or into the Middle East or Africa, should have his head examined, as General MacArthur so delicately put it.” Robert Gates

“And the governor, for whatever reason, sees unions as a threat. If anything, he should see them as an ally because all the public workers in the state of Wisconsin actually make him look good.” John Erpenbach

“Political contests in this country are rarely, if ever, death matches between good and evil; the future of civilization is not at stake when we enter the voting booth. The country will survive—and even prosper—even if the other side wins the election.” Lee Hamilton

“Governments go away; people are gone. But the plays, artifacts, music and poetry remain. They tell the stories of what once was, of what used to be. What’s created for us now will speak for us when we’re gone.” Tony Brown, on proposed cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts

The psychologist “said that, by the time that girls are teenagers, when she asks them how they felt about an…experience, they respond by telling her how they felt they looked. And she has to tell them that looking good is not a feeling.” Peggy Orenstein