Joseph J. Ellis quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Joseph J. Ellis

Joseph J. Ellis Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Joseph J. Ellis on Wise Famous Quotes.

Because he could not afford to fail, he could not afford to trust.

The land of opportunity, where credentials mattered less than demonstrated ability.

Washington's task was to transform the improbable into the inevitable.

I believe I am an honorable man.

I would say readers can trust my work more than anyone else's.

In time to come be shaped by the human mind. Asked

Some models of self-control are able to achieve their serenity easily because the soul fires never burn brightly to begin with.

For Madison, on the other hand, "a Public Debt is a Public curse," and "in a Representative Government greater than in any other."26

It took him (Washington) more than a year to gain control over his own aggressive instincts.

And the only thing to do with a sin is to confess, do penance and then, after some kind of decent interval, ask for forgiveness.

(Asked to explain the defeat, Adams put it succinctly: "In general, our Generals were out generalled.") Washington

Contemporaries of Alexander Hamilton noticed his conspicuous sense of self-possession, his unique combination of serenity and energy.

The Constitution was intended less to resolve arguments than to make argument itself the solution.

[quoting someone else] the American constitution is a document designed by geniuses to be eventually interpreted by idiots

God was not in the details for Jefferson; he was in the sky and stars.

Adams had gone to Harvard, Jefferson to William and Mary. Washington had gone to war.

Even in the best of lives, mistakes are made.

He found himself in the ironic position of being the indispensable man in a political world that regarded all leaders as disposable.

A lifelong disciple of Lord Chesterfield's maxim that a gentleman was free to do anything he pleased as long as he did it with style.

Chronology, so the saying goes, is the last refuge of the feeble-minded and the only resort for historians.

If you knew how the journey was going to end, you could afford to be patient along the path.

Jefferson appeared to his enemies as an American version of Candide; Hamilton as an American Machiavelli.

His (Washington's) apparent paralysis was the result of balancing two imperatives: his reputation against the survival of the Continental Army.

The old adage applied: if God were in the details, Colonel Washington would have been there to greet him upon arrival.

Namely, never interfere when your enemies are busily engaged in flagrant acts of self-destruction.

Men make history, but they can never know the history they are making.

I'm one of those people that believes you should start writing before you think you're ready.