57 Quotes by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

There is far less to the Presidency, in terms of essential activity, than meets the eye.

What higher obligation does a President have than to explain his intentions to the people and persuade them that the direction he wishes to go is right?

Few secret undertakings ever did any nation any good.

History, in the end, becomes a form of irony.

Self-righteousness in retrospect is easy--also cheap,

The use of history as therapy means the corruption of history as history.

Almost all important questions are important precisely because they are not susceptible to quantitative answer.

Liberalism regards all absolutes with profound skepticism, including both moral imperatives and final solutions... Insistence upon any particular solution is the mark of an ideologue...

I don't think I have made as much of my life as I should have. I should have written more books.