Quotes From "The Way Of The World: A Story Of Truth And Hope In An Age Of Extremism" By Ron Suskind

You can actually herd cats. They can't be forced, of course. But if they sense something they want, if there enticed by something good, they'll follow, even in herds. Ron Suskind

Moral action — humble and honest — is the tribute that power must at some point pay to reason. Ron Suskind

Life-shaping institutions tend to start with an idea or revelation. They often become mostly about the preservation and expansion of authority, something they relinquish only with the greatest reluctance. Ron Suskind

In this era of public survival through continuous storytelling, people want someone who might surprise them. Ron Suskind

He was rebuilt, reconstituted by vengeance dressed up as high purpose. Ron Suskind

A sense of messianic purpose makes the national interest almost indistinguishable from the political interests of the president. Ron Suskind

I'm more depressed about the realities of the mature bureaucracy and more excited about the ideal that we're fighting for. And the juxtaposition has obvious consequences. Rolf Mowatt-Larrsen Ron Suskind

Necessity and desperation birth resourcefulness. Ron Suskind

A lawyer's empathy for her client deepens when she realizes that she has only seen the last couple of phases of his decline. How hard it must his initial adjustment have been to his loss of freedom? Ron Suskind

Public servants in this Europe often do their best when they stop caring about whether they'll be fired. Ron Suskind

Disequilibrium is often instigated by the will to power, a sleepless drive in the human personality to control others, to force them to do what one wants, or not to do what one opposes. Ron Suskind

Islam is in a formative period struggling to consolidate the vast reach won by both inspiration and force at its founding. Two centuries along, the faith of Muhammad hangs like an intricate veil: a religion still searching for institutional wholeness, a set of lessons to live by. Ron Suskind

A Pakistani exchange student's maternal American host "managed to summon the transforming question of her culture, built on the revolutionary idea that people are the sovereign, the boss, captains of their own fate. She said, simply, "But what do YOU think? Ron Suskind

This is not an issue of geography. He IS of two worlds wherever he goes. Ron Suskind

In his book The Soul of Black Folks, W.E.B. DuBois writes about always feeling "his twoness-- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; to warring ideals in one dark body. Ron Suskind

One world leader warned another "the error of relying on the capability you have rather than developing the capability you need. Ron Suskind

When a precious secret is collected It tends to glow in the darkness. Placed in daylight, fitted along a wide landscape of fact, it often loses its brilliance. Ron Suskind

He is now judging himself, harshly, by his captors' rules. Ron Suskind

Push the needle into some middle range of guarded optimism. Ron Suskind

Security is by far the city's predominant business. Ron Suskind