Power is not something that can be assumed or discarded at will like underwear.

People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage

Meetings are a great trap. Soon you find yourself trying to get agreement and then the people who disagree come to think they have a right to be persuaded. However, they are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

If we were not in Vietnam, all that part of the world would be enjoying the obscurity it so richly deserves.

The total alteration in underlying circumstances has not been squarely faced, As a result, we are guided, in part, by ideas that are relevant to another world. ... We do many things that are unnecessary, some that are unwise, and a few that are insane.

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.