AtomicQuote

Garry Wills Quote

The tapes are the real man—mean, vindictive, panicky, striking first in anticipation of being struck, trying to lift his own friable self-esteem by shoving others down. Murray Kempton said he wanted to leave no fingerprints, but he went about it in such a way as to leave his fingerprints all over his story. Nixon’s real tragedy is that he never had the stature to be a tragic hero. He is the stuff of sad (almost heartbreaking) comedy.

Garry Wills

The tapes are the real man—mean, vindictive, panicky, striking first in anticipation of being struck, trying to lift his own friable self-esteem by shoving others down. Murray Kempton said he wanted to leave no fingerprints, but he went about it in such a way as to leave his fingerprints all over his story. Nixon’s real tragedy is that he never had the stature to be a tragic hero. He is the stuff of sad (almost heartbreaking) comedy.

Related Quotes

I once took a poo in the woods while hunched over like an animal. It was AWESOME.

Drew Barrymore

I once took a poo in the woods while hunched over like an animal. It was AWESOME.

Tags: actress, animal, awesome, child star, crass, crazy, crude, disgusting, ecology, environmentalism

The nights were mainly made for saying things you can't say tomorrow day.

Arctic Monkeys

The nights were mainly made for saying things you can't say tomorrow day.

Tags: arctic monkeys, days, do i wanna know, lyrics, mainly, music, nights, saying, songs, talk

The warrior's nobility is like a prostitute's smile, the truth of which is self-interest.

Georges Bataille

The warrior's nobility is like a prostitute's smile, the truth of which is self-interest.

It is usually unbearably painful to read a book by an author who knows way less than you do, unless the book is a novel.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

It is usually unbearably painful to read a book by an author who knows way less than you do, unless the book is a novel.

Tags: acceptable, accomplishment, account, accounts, adeptness, admissible, agony, aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist

How is it possible that suffering that is neither my own nor of my concern should immediately affect me as though it were my own, and with such force that is moves me to action?

Arthur Schopenhauer

How is it possible that suffering that is neither my own nor of my concern should immediately affect me as though it were my own, and with such force that is moves me to action?

Tags: action, affect, caring, compassion, concern, empathy, ethics, force, morality, suffering

Art is risk made visible

Arno Rafael Minkkinen

art is risk made visible

Tags: art, artists, inspirational, photography

The future is not a gift - it is an achievement.

Harry Lauder

The future is not a gift - it is an achievement.

Tags: future

Risk is the clue that our dreams are both real and great.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

Risk is the clue that our dreams are both real and great.

Tags: aspirations, authentic, bold, boldness, brave, bravery, calculated risks, clue, dream, dreaming

If you caress me one more time, you will melt the butter on my toast.

Anthony T. Hincks

If you caress me one more time, you will melt the butter on my toast.

Tags: bread, butter, caress, love, me, melt, more, one, one more time, philosophy

Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.

Antonio Machado

Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.

Tags: dream, dreaming, dreams, food for thought, guessing, life, living, philosophy
About Garry Wills

Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1993.
Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.