WIST

Aside from laughing it off, the only real answer to a jest is a better jest.

Orrin E. Klapp (1915-1997) American sociologist
Symbolic Leaders: Public Dramas and Public Men, ch. 7 (1964)

To me “bipartisan foreign policy” means a mutual effort, under our indispensable two-Party system, to unite our official voice at the water’s edge so that America speaks with maximum authority against those who would divide and conquer us and the free world. It does not involve the remotest surrender of free debate in determining our position. On the contrary, frank cooperation and free debate are indispensable to ultimate unity. In a word, it simply seeks national security ahead of partisan advantage. Every foreign policy must be totally debated (and I think the record proves it has been) and the “loyal opposition” is under special obligation to see that this occurs.

Arthur Vandenberg (1884-1951) American politician and statesman
The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg, ed. Arthur H. Vandenberg, Jr. (1952)

Though I prize, as I ought, the good opinion of my fellow citizens; yet, if I know myself, I would not seek or retain popularity at the expense of one social duty or moral virtue.

George Washington (1732-1799) US President, military leader
Letter to Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee (22 Sep 1788)

Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic uninterestingness as an intellectual position. Where was the ingenuity, the ambiguity, the humanity (in the Harvard sense) of saying that the universe just happened to happen and that when we’re dead we’re dead?

John Updike (1932-2009) American writer
Self-Consciousness: Memoirs, ch. 4 (1989)

Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909)
“The Strenuous Life,” speech, Hamilton Club, Chicago (10 Apr 1899)
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