Quote

A wise soul once declared that the ultimate power of the writer is that he has the choice of whom he wants to be co-opted by.

David Brooks

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

David Brooks
Age: 63
Born: 1961
Born: August 22
Editor
Journalist
Politician
Pundit
City of Toronto
Choice
Writer
Wants
Wise
Choices
Power
Opted
Soul
Declared
Writing
Ultimate

More quotes by David Brooks

Image
With a normal president like President [Barack] Obama, he says a word, and that's because there has been some thought that he's done and there had been policy papers and there's been aides and there's been advisers and then there is a connection to an actual set of policies. And so, the words like have roots into actual stuff.
David Brooks
Image
Donald Trump just needs the ego fed all the time.
David Brooks
Image
I want to limit the effects of the power of donors, no question about it.
David Brooks
Image
Two terrible behaviors don't make a good behavior.
David Brooks
Image
I expect [Donald] Trump to do what he's done very successfully, which is, whether you like him or not, he will be the dominant player .
David Brooks
Image
Our emotions tell us what to value. They're like a little GPS system: Go that way. Don't go that way.
David Brooks
Image
For those of us who believe in it, there has to be a movement that says, We still believe in trade. We still believe in international engagement for America. But for those losers or those who are suffering, we've got your back.
David Brooks
Image
Our system is not only based on rules, but a series of self-restraints that we won't be as barbaric as we could be in competing for power because we know if we're all barbaric as we could be, the whole country and the whole society falls apart.
David Brooks
Image
People used to complain that selling a president was like selling a bar of soap. But when you buy soap, at least you get the soap. In this campaign, you just get two guys telling you they really value cleanliness.
David Brooks
Image
If you withdraw from the game, you're out of the game. And we have withdrawn from the game. And we said Bashar Assad has to go. He's going to stay. So we're out of the game.
David Brooks
Image
People generally don't suffer high rates of PTSD after natural disasters. Instead, people suffer from PTSD after moral atrocities. Soldiers who've endured the depraved world of combat experience their own symptoms. Trauma is an expulsive cataclysm of the soul.
David Brooks
Image
Republicans are living in a hermetically sealed Republican universe, just as Democrats are. And so they're responding to their own universe, even if it leads to electoral downfall.
David Brooks
Image
I happen to think most people go into government do it for the right reasons and they really do things as they see them on the merits of the issues.
David Brooks
Image
We pretend to be a middle class, democratic nation, but in reality we love our blue bloods. ... We love the prep school manners, the aristocratic calm, the Skull and Bones mystery, the dappled lawns stretching before New England summer homes. How else can be explained the Bush vs. Kerry match-up that confronts us this year?
David Brooks
Image
I agree with the idea of cutting [budget], but it should all be coming out of entitlements for the affluent and not out of domestic discretionary, which is welfare, education, all the stuff the government does, parks, FBI, and it shouldn't be coming out of Medicaid.
David Brooks
Image
The natural human reaction is to greet hatred with hatred, revenge by revenge. That's the natural genetic reaction.
David Brooks
Image
Democrats in environmental agencies tend to be more sensitive to environmental harm. And Republicans tend to be more sensitive to business harm.
David Brooks
Image
[Donald Trump] has shifted - President [Barack] Obama has shifted American policy in a much more critical way in Israel with the settlements than the previous presidents.
David Brooks
Image
On the [Betsy] DeVos case, I agree that the gun - her gun position is kind of weird, kind of crazy, but I do think she does know about public schools.
David Brooks
Image
What family you were born into matters so much more than it did before in a perverse way.
David Brooks