In the (French) President, however, intelligence, experience and strength of purpose, if not constitutional power, were combined. Poincare was a lawyer, economist and member of the Academy, a former finance minister who had served as Permier and Foreign Minister in 1912 and had been elected President of France in January 1913. Character begets power, especially [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Quotes'
“The Guns of August 1914”, Barbara Tuchman
April 1st, 2012 · No Comments · History, Quotes, Uncategorized
In Whitehall that evening, Sir Edward Grey, standing with a friend at the window as the street lamps below were being lit, made the remark that has since epitomized the hour: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
A Victory for the True Believers – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 19th, 2012 · No Comments · Australian Labor Party, Ideology, Politics, Quotes
‘This is a victory for the true believers; the people who in difficult times have kept the faith, and for the Australian people through hard times, it makes their act of faith that much greater.’ He left no doubt that he was claiming it, in fact he might have been still campaigning. ‘It will be [...]
Tags:ALP·Australian Labor Party·Labor·Politics·Quotes·Speeches
No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 19th, 2012 · No Comments · Quotes, War
No plan survives contact with the enemy, as the military strategists say;
Strategy and Results – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 17th, 2012 · No Comments · Quotes
It was hubris. It was Churchill’s axiom perfectly demonstrated: ‘However beautiful the strategy one should occasionally look at the results.’
Politics as the Systematic Organisation of Hatreds – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 16th, 2012 · No Comments · Democracy, Politics, Power, Quotes
Politics, as a practice, whatever its pretensions, had always been the systematic organisation of hatreds. HENRY ADAMS
The Most Foolish Leader of the LPA since McMahon – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 16th, 2012 · No Comments · Campaigning, Conservative Politics, Political Communication, Politics, Quotes
‘I am not saying the Leader of the Opposition (Downer) is a racist,’ he said over the din in the House. ‘I am saying he is the most foolish Leader of the Liberal Party since Billy McMahon.’
Tags:Campaigning·conservatives·Language·Liberals·Political Communication·Politics·Quotes
Circumstances – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 13th, 2012 · No Comments · Leadership, Quotes
‘It always remains true,’ George Eliot said in Middlemarch, ‘that if we had been greater, circumstances would have been less strong against us.’
Tags:leadership·Quotes
Skyrockets – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 9th, 2012 · No Comments · Leadership, Politics, Quotes
Lang told (Keating) that some politicians were people of weight and substance and some were skyrockets who issued a great shower of sparks but ‘a dead stick always fell to earth’.
Prosperity – “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” – Amy Chua
February 24th, 2012 · No Comments · China, Parenting, Quotes
There’s an old Chinese saying that “prosperity can never last for three generations. I think I actually agree with this one. At least understand it.
Tags:China·inequality·parenting·Quotes
