John W. Gardner

Quotes

• “We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing ...”
• “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it i...”
• “If one defines the term 'dropout' to mean a person who has given up serious effort to meet his responsibilities then ev...”
• “Leaders come in many forms, with many styles and diverse qualities. There are quiet leaders and leaders one can hear in ...”
• “Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squ...”
• “John Milton called his school Christ College 'a stony-hearted stepmother'. The ultimate goal of the educational system...”
• “Art gropes it stalks like a hunter lost in the woods listening to itself and to everything around it unsure of itself...”
• “When one may pay out over two million dollars to presidential and Congressional campaigns, the U.S. government is virtua...”
• “History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy and it always feel...”
• “If you don't give your kid freedom to make choices with money, including stupid choices, he'll make plenty when he gets ...”
• “If you have some respect for people as they are, you can be more effective in helping them to become better than they ar...”
• “It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government.”
• “Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.”
• “For every talent that poverty has stimulated it has blighted a hundred.”
• “True happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents.”
• “History never looks like history when you are living through it.”
• “The world loves talent but pays off on character.”
• “To sensible men every day is a day of reckoning.”