Strategic Thinkers Were Naturally Rattled To Find

It Was Dramatic To Watch My Grandmother Decapitate A Turkey With An Ax The Day Before Thanksgiving. Nowadays The Expense Of Hiring Grandmothers For The Ax Work Would Probably Qualify All Turkeys So Honored With Gourmet Status.

Though Americans Talk A Good Deal About The Virtue Of Being Serious, They Generally Prefer People Who Are Solemn Over People Who Are Serious. In Politics, The Rare Candidate Who Is Serious, Like Adlai Stevenson, Is Easily Overwhelmed By One Who Is Solemn, Like General Eisenhower. This Is Probably Because It Is Hard For Most People To Recognize Seriousness, Which Is Rare, Especially In Politics, But Comfortable To Endorse Solemnity, Which Is As Commonplace As Jogging.

Life Is Always Walking Up To Us And Saying, "come On In, The Living's Fine," And What Do We Do? Back Off And Take Its Picture.

Letter Writing Was Clearly Important To Reagan. Even As President He Kept Dashing Off Letters To Friends, Pen Pals, Media People, Statesmen, Critics, And The Kind Of People Who Write To Presidents Never Expecting A Reply.

After That [father's Death] I Never Cried With Any Real Conviction, Nor Expected Much Of Anyone's God Except Indifference, Nor Loved Deeply Without Fear That It Would Cost Me Dearly In Pain. At The Age Of Five I Had Become A Skeptic And Began To Sense That Any Happiness That Came My Way Might Be The Prelude To Some Grim Cosmic Joke.