statesmanship

He had become, through a combination of heritage and character, a keeper of the national conscience.

The President is also captured in a well-worn TV news clip, making a boilerplate response to a question on terrorism and then asking the reporters to watch his drive. Well, that's what you get if you catch the President on a golf course. If Eisenhower had done this, as he often did, it would have been presented as calm statesmanship. If Clinton had done it, as he often did, it would have shown his charm.

The reality is that the American people have no desire for an empire. This is not to say that they don't want the benefits, both economic and strategic. It simply means that they don't want to pay the price. Economically, Americans want the growth potential of open markets but not the pains. Politically, they want to have an enormous influence, but not the resentment of the world. Military, they want to be protected from dangers but not to bear the burdens of long-term strategy.

In a democracy government is the God.

State first, subject second, statesman last.

He believed that rank without power was a sham.

Americans talked about voters the same way Russians talked about Stalin. They had to be obeyed.

presidents, when not outright telling lies, feel obliged to shade the truth most of the time. This is called politics; when a president lies successfully, he is called a statesman.

Statesmanship is developed in the hard knocks of general experience, private and public.

The eternal sea of politics is best left to politicians.