Stephen L. Carter Quotes

Jonathan had been around Washington long enough to know that no offer was exactly what it seemed.

~ Stephen L. Carter

He had been around politicians for a long time, and he was prepared for some outburst.

~ Stephen L. Carter

They loved the sound of their own voices. No decision would be reached anytime soon.

~ Stephen L. Carter

In spite of his Cold War credentials, Kennedy still believed in the power of words.

~ Stephen L. Carter

Being on the inside could be an addiction

~ Stephen L. Carter

It is difficult to trust someone not raised to doctrine.

~ Stephen L. Carter

So many people of liberal persuasion value their own progressive opinions more than they value the people they hold those opinions about.

~ Stephen L. Carter

On the opening day of law school at Yale, I always counsel my first-year students never to support a law they are not willing to kill to enforce. Usually they greet this advice with something between skepticism and puzzlement, until I remind them that the police go armed to enforce the will of the state, and if you resist, they might kill you.

~ Stephen L. Carter

He seemed to believe that indignation was a sufficient guardian.

~ Stephen L. Carter

He was vain and tended to surround himself with intellectual and moral pygmies.

~ Stephen L. Carter

He was the sort of man who only wanted to be told what he already assumed was true.

~ Stephen L. Carter

Size and elaboration were often mistaken for importance.

~ Stephen L. Carter

To Tom, the march of technology was equivalent to the march of civilization.

~ Stephen L. Carter

Our sense of history has grown dangerously thin, and our sense of proportion with it.

~ Stephen L. Carter

Coming from a business family, she shied away from abstractions.

~ Stephen L. Carter

She had been carried away by the need to defend herself.

~ Stephen L. Carter

People seem to remember the sacrifices they made more than what the sacrifices were for.

~ Stephen L. Carter

The victors always think they are righteous. But then, they always seem to start a mighty unrighteous squabbling over the spoils.

~ Stephen L. Carter

The only way to prove his willingness to wait would be to wait.

~ Stephen L. Carter

In a crisis, time was always the enemy.

~ Stephen L. Carter

Better to wait actively than passively.

~ Stephen L. Carter

She wasn't being methodological. She was being autobiographical.

~ Stephen L. Carter

The kind of people we have in Washington only trust what they think they own.

~ Stephen L. Carter

This isn't about your reputation. Our job right now is to make sure that there to ARE future historians.

~ Stephen L. Carter