Quote

Most people don't form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.

David Brooks

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David Brooks
Age: 63
Born: 1961
Born: August 22
Editor
Journalist
Politician
Pundit
City of Toronto
Calling
Lead
Called
Form
Problem
Self
Life
Constructed
People
Gradually

More quotes by David Brooks

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What's interesting about the Trump administration is how bitterly divided they are in their attitudes towards Putin.
David Brooks
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The idea that when you correct a fact, you erase that fact from people's memories is the reverse of the truth. When you correct a fact, what you do is you further lodge that fact into people's minds, and they remember the error.
David Brooks
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I think Donald Trump is going to find it very hard to do the kind of massive change he wants.
David Brooks
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Economists sometimes do try to reduce behavior to law-like predictability. But people respond differently to different primes, to different contexts even from one moment to the next. We possess multiple selves that are aroused by different circumstances.
David Brooks
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I generally think the president [Donald Trump] should get his Cabinet picks, unless they're egregiously out of the range, either ethically or intellectually out of the range of what's acceptable.
David Brooks
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If you're cutting deals with one company or another, eventually, there's going to be a quid pro quo. There's going to be a bribe. There's going to be something.
David Brooks
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When you talk about the problem of illegal immigration, people are angry and polarized. When you talk about the answers, the debate gets a little different.
David Brooks
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To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy.
David Brooks
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Everyone is dividing based on demographic categories.
David Brooks
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The most interesting thing is that the White House staff and the people under Donald Trump, at least some portion of them, some large portion of them, seem to have turned against Donald Trump.
David Brooks
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If Donald Trump wants to fire somebody for not getting Obamacare repealed, he should fire himself.
David Brooks
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The three people who are most often talked about with Hillary Clinton, whether it's Tim Kaine or Vilsack or Cory Booker, they are three extremely nice people.
David Brooks
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Institutions do all the things that are supposed to be bad. They impede personal exploration. They enforce conformity. But they often save us from our weaknesses and give meaning to life.
David Brooks
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The crossroads where government meets enterprise can be an exciting crossroads. It can also be a corrupt crossroads. It requires moral rectitude to separate public service from private gain.
David Brooks
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Russia has a very sophisticated, advanced attack on U.S. businesses and U.S. government and U.S. institutions. And it's not like Donald Trump is going to be walking away from this. He will be spending a lot of time on it, if he's any sort of normal president.
David Brooks
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I'm thankful that we live in a crassly commercial, polarized culture, so media jackals like me have a lot of work to do.
David Brooks
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Live life as a series of revelations
David Brooks
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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
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Certainly, the country can't have two presidents at once, so the tradition has been to hang back if you're the president-elect and wait for your time in office. [Donald] Trump is not a hang-back kind of guy.
David Brooks
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No matter where you are on politics, I think it is wonderful to see candidates funding campaigns not by talking to a very small number of very rich people, but by reaching out to a very large number of citizens.
David Brooks