Our American past always speaks to us with two voices the voice of the past, and the voice of the present. We are always asking two quite different questions. Historians reading the words of John Winthrop usually ask, What did they mean to him Citizens ask, What do they mean to us Historians are trained to seek the original meaning all of us want to know the present meaning.
The American experience stirred mankind from discovery to exploration, from the cautious quest for what they knew (or what they thought they knew) was out there, to an enthusiastic reaching to the unknown.
There is no disinfectant like success.
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.
Formerly a public man needed a private secretary for a barrier between himself and the public. Nowadays he has a press secretary to keep him properly in the public eye.
A sign of a celebrity is that his name is often worth more than his services.
A best seller was a book which somehow sold well simply because it was selling well.
More appealing than knowledge itself is the feeling of knowledge.
Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.
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