The theoretical understanding of the world which is the aim of philosophy is not a matter of great practical importance to animals or to savages or even to most civilised men.

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.

Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through argument debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.

There are many people in the world who really don't understand-or say they don't-what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin!

A mistake made by many people with great convictions is that they will let nothing stand in the way of their views not even kindness.

Even though I disagree with many of the changes when I see the privates graduate at the end of the day when they walk off that drill field at the end of the ceremony they are still fine privates outstanding well motivated privates.

The Left regards the Constitution as defective and outmoded - in part because it impedes the government's ability to control institutions like churches and families which stand between the state and individuals.

Republicans rarely criticize Obama for lack of empathy - in part because liberals have traditionally been seen as standing up for the weak and the vulnerable. Conservatives can be just as empathetic. But they believe that in most cases it's not government's role to be the primary dispenser of empathy.